


Things Left Unsaid

by setarcosjemia



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Rizzles, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:22:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 37,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setarcosjemia/pseuds/setarcosjemia
Summary: Set after -that- scene in episode 2x12. Maura told Jane she loves her and that she doesn’t want to risk their friendship. What Maura doesn’t say is that she isn’t referring to Tommy. If only Maura knew that Jane has been struggling with feelings too. [From my fanfiction.net story of the same title]
Relationships: Maura Isles & Jane Rizzoli, Maura Isles/Jane Rizzoli
Comments: 31
Kudos: 269





	1. Acting on Impulse

**Author's Note:**

> So I battled with whether or not to include the investigation into the story. Ultimately, I decided that the dynamic Jane and Maura share while on a case was too important to ignore. Please note that while I am revising this work, it was originally written more than five years ago, so please excuse any errors that I miss.

Yet again Maura found herself at Jane’s apartment, the night getting late. They were in the kitchen. Jane had just finished making herself a grilled cheese when Maura took out the bottle of wine Tommy had given her.

Despite Jane’s reluctance to have such a superb wine with such a simple, greasy dinner, Maura picked up the corkscrew. Jane approached the counter.

“Listen…” Jane said with resignation.

Maura frowned, but avoided her eyes, busying herself with opening the wine bottle. She could tell by the change in Jane’s voice and her body language that she had something to get off her chest.

“I don’t want to stand in the way of a great romance. Okay?” Jane continued.

Maura felt her heart palpitate. What great romance? The only romance Maura wanted she would never have because she couldn’t dare risk it. There was no way Jane was talking about _that._

“What do you mean?” she said, looking at Jane inquisitively. 

“You and Tommy.” Jane said, wondering for a split second who else Maura could think she meant. She had been trying to get used to the idea of Maura seeing her brother. Jane’s face curled up with distaste as an image of her brother kissing Maura popped into her brain. “Clearly, opposites attract.”

“It’s an evolutionary strategy to ensure healthy reproduction.” Maura stated matter-of-factly. But what was really a strategy—a survival strategy—was Maura’s defense mechanism. She hid behind her expansive knowledge of science factoids whenever the situation was unfamiliar or, as in this case, uncomfortable. Still, Maura managed a smile, already guessing as to the response her comment would elicit from the tall brunette.

“Why do you got to go straight to breeding?” Jane said with irritation, “Alright? With my brother?”

Maura laughed lightly. “Look,” she said taking a breath, forcing herself to say only what was necessary, what Jane could handle, “I like Tommy. A lot. But I love you. And I hate it when you hate me, so I don’t want to do anything to compromise our friendship.”

And what she said was true. She never wanted to risk her friendship with Jane ever again, for any reason, no matter how troubling. Images of that week flashed through Maura’s mind as she looked up at the detective with a determined expression.

The way Jane had looked at her when she found out what Maura had been hiding about Tommy being a suspect. The stab in her heart at the sound of Jane’s angry, disbelieving voice. The pain and betrayal so visible in her warm, coffee brown eyes. She never wanted to experience anything like that ever again. It didn’t matter how much Maura panged to express to Jane all that she was feeling, all that she was struggling with. She could never risk losing her as a friend, no matter how much Jane made her heart flutter and her stomach fill with butterflies.

But Maura shook those thoughts from her mind. She had to focus on rebuilding their friendship. It was taking a lot of work, but they had almost returned to their normal amount of openness and playfulness.

Jane looked at her with a goofy smile, “Good, because I hate it when I have to hate you.”

Jane had wanted to say, ‘I love you too,’ but for some reason the words seemed too strong, too intimate. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t love Maura, because Jane surely loved her best friend more than anyone else in the world. But that was just the problem, ever since Maura had told her about Ian being the love of her life, Jane had started to feel strange whenever the topic of love came up.

Jane had held Maura in her arms that night, trying to soothe her quiet sobs. But as she did Jane slowly became aware of the ache in her chest. Maura’s words rolled around in Jane’s brain, “love of my life.” She wondered what that feeling was that was festering deep in her gut. Could that be jealousy?

Jane had pushed those worried thoughts into the back of her mind. But the questions had remained lurking in the edges of her consciousness ever since. And now, months later, when she heard the words, “I love you” she felt oddly resistant to use them in return, just in case her words ended up meaning more than she could understand.

Still, Jane was pleased to have her friend back. She had missed being open with her, being close to her. And, for now, she would ignore the nagging voice in her head that wanted to know why.

They both giggled, Maura pouring them each a glass of wine. “Sip it slowly.” Maura said softly. She watched Jane closely as she brought the glass to her lips. An appreciative smile spread across Maura’s face as she watched her friend.

But then Jane looked up at her. The grimace on her face gave Maura the distinct impression that Jane was just about to vomit. Maura watched in astonishment as Jane spit the wine directly back into the glass.

Jane’s eyes were wide as she wiped her mouth. “How much was this?” she said with a look of disgust.

“Six-hundred and twenty-five dollars—did you just spit out a ’94 chateau?” Maura said looking at her incredulously.

Jane made a mocking sound at her, wishing she could get the acrid taste from her mouth. She took the bottle from Maura, looking at it in shock, “Yes. My—gah—some smart shopper Tommy is! Why did he waste a month’s rent on a bottle of rancid vinegar and old garlic?” She put her hand to her sternum, willing her food not to come back up.

“No,” Maura said, swirling her glass, “it just needs to breathe and release its tannins.”

“Really?” Jane said, leaning forward on the counter, watching expectantly as Maura took a sip.

For a moment, Maura maintained a straight face as the red wine slipped into her mouth. As she swallowed her lips puckered and her face contorted. She made a high-pitched objection, frowning and shaking her head.

“Yeah.” Jane said, taking the wine bottle from the counter.

“Ew!” Maura responded. “You might be right.”

“Mm hm…” Jane said pouring the wine carefully back into the bottle.

“What are you doing?” Maura said with a frown.

“I’m going to pour it back in the bottle so Tommy can take it back.”

“They’re not going to take it back!”

“Oh, they’ll take it back.” Jane said with a resolute expression.

Maura laughed. She had dearly missed these moments with the detective. Jane had a way of making everything seem light and carefree. And her smile—she missed her wide, toothy smile and the sound of her laugh, an honest, guttural laugh that made Maura’s stomach do summersaults. The way Jane’s deep russet colored eyes sparkled when she smiled made it nearly impossible for Maura to look away.

Maura blinked at her friend dazedly, vaguely aware that she was saying something about her grilled cheese sandwich. Maura didn’t mean to ignore her, but she found herself lost in an exploration of the tanned, defined features of Jane’s face. The harder she tried to look away, the more she didn’t want to. Her eyes settled on Jane’s pale lips.

“Hey, Maur, you okay?” Jane said, frowning at her. She shifted uncomfortably, wondering if Maura was staring at her or through her.

“Huh?” Maura said, shaking her head slightly and blinking at her. “Oh! Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired I guess.”

“It is getting late.” Jane said, looking at the clock on the microwave, it was nearly eleven. Though it was Friday, Jane figured Maura would be getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, just like any other day.

Jane went to the fridge to grab a beer to go with her grilled cheese. She was sure she was going to get a wise crack from Maura about her choice of a late-night snack, but Maura said nothing as Jane popped open the bottle and returned to the counter.

“Maybe you should get some rest, it’s been a long week.” Jane said, taking a sip of the cool, amber liquid. She didn’t really want Maura to leave, but Jane was worried about her. Maura had been acting strangely the past couple months. It seemed as if something was bothering the doctor, but Jane had not had the courage to bring it up. Ever since Ian had flitted in and out of Maura’s life, Jane worried about what else Maura might be hiding from her. Jane was concerned for her friend and she wished Maura would be more open with her.

“It has been a long week.” Maura confirmed with a sigh. She glanced at Jane briefly, noticing the beer for the first time, “You know, you really have horrible eating habits.”

“Now that’s the Maura Isles I know and love.” Jane quipped. _Shit._ Jane rebuked herself harshly, _Stop blushing, it’s just an expression!_ There that word was again, why did it seem so horribly intimate all of a sudden?

Jane quickly took a bite of her sandwich, hoping to distract Maura’s attention away from her cheeks by chomping on her food enthusiastically. “What?” Jane said indignantly through a mouth full of greasy cheese and bread. “I’m hungry.”

Maura was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a judgmental expression. “You know, eating too quickly causes the swallowing of air leading to excessive gas--“

“Ew, Maura!” Jane said, dropping her sandwich back down on her plate. Thankfully, her little ploy had worked, unfortunately it had led to Jane losing her appetite.

“What?” Maura said, innocently. Honestly, she did not understand how Jane could be so upset by normal bodily functions.

Jane looked at her friend quietly for a moment. She wondered for a moment why they were such good friends anyway. Sometimes, the two of them seemed to be such opposites. Other times, Jane thought, the two of them fit perfectly together, like yin and yang.

Jane smiled at this thought. Then she looked up at Maura, “Well, are you at least going to have a beer or something?” She turned to grab one from the fridge.

“Well…” Maura said, reaching out for the beer instinctively. Her brain was telling her no, but her heart was telling her yes. She stared at Jane with a half smile, as if stuck between two conflicting thoughts. All she wanted was to be with Jane, but she wasn’t sure if doing so would be a good idea.

The last night they had spent together, Maura had started to become increasingly uncomfortable with the lack of distance between them. Normally, throughout the evening they would somehow come closer and closer, starting out with them sitting on each end of the couch watching a movie, to them snuggled together, asleep, on one of their beds. In the beginning, Maura had enjoyed these gestures of intimacy, but lately she had become uncomfortable with the way they were making her feel.

Last week, noticing her heart fluttering wildly as Jane sat next to her, their thighs touching lightly, Maura had restrained herself from resting her head on Jane’s shoulder. But Jane, who had her arm in its customary place behind Maura, had scooted closer to her, causing Maura’s honey colored curls to fall unto Jane’s t-shirt.

Maura had gulped as her glance dipped down to Jane’s breasts. Jane let out a contented sigh as she squeezed lightly on Maura’s arm. Maura tried to oblige Jane’s obvious request for their usual movie-watching cuddle, but as she placed her head on Jane’s shoulder Maura could think of nothing more than Jane’s thumb affectionately rubbing on her left arm. Finally, unable to bear it anymore, Maura had suddenly stood up and mumbled something about using the restroom.

But, considering Jane had come over to her house that evening, there was no running away from her. Instead, she went to her bedroom to get into her nightgown. And nearly half-an-hour later she still had not left the master bedroom. Instead, she was pacing back and forth, the sound of the movie leaking in from the living room through the cracked door.

Maura had just sat down on her bed with frustration when the sound quieted from the surround-sound entertainment system downstairs. “Maur,” Jane called out, “you okay?”

Maura scrunched her eyes closed. The movie was probably over and now Jane was wondering where she had gone. She started to panic. She did not want Jane to come looking for her; she had no reasonable explanation to give her. All she knew was that she could not muster up the courage to ask Jane to leave.

The door creaked slightly as Jane peeked into the master bedroom. “You asleep, Maura?” Jane whispered.

Maura had her eyes closed, sprawled with her back on the bed. She was in her pajamas, but the bed was still made beneath her. Jane frowned, that was unusual for Maura. She had wondered if the honey blond had been feeling okay, she had been acting very strangely while they were watching the movie, and it was unlike Maura to head to bed without offering her the guest room before turning in.

Jane approached the bed slowly, placing her steps carefully as to avoid waking up the doctor unnecessarily. She peered down at Maura curiously. If she was asleep, then she was not having a good time of it, because her face was tense and her brow slightly furrowed.

“Maur?” Jane said softly, “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Maura said, opening her eyes but avoiding Jane’s. She turned over, her back to the brunette, “I’m just tired.”

“You’ve been acting strangely.” Jane said, placing a hand on Maura’s arm in a comforting gesture, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, Jane, I’m fine.” Maura said flatly, staring at the opposite wall, trying not to let her voice falter.

“Are you upset about Ian?” Jane said, taking a wild stab in the dark. Perhaps, Maura was still upset over him leaving. Jane hadn’t wanted to bring it up since that night, but Jane was concerned for her friend—she was clearly struggling with something.

“No!” Maura said, shrugging Jane’s hand from her shoulder. She had not intended to sound so hostile, but the thought of Ian had sent a stabbing pain into her heart. Yes, she still loved him, but she had tried not to think about him since he left—it hurt too much. Instead, she had been focusing her attentions on all of her conflicting emotions for the detective. Frustratingly, that had only led to more trouble.

“Please, talk to me.” Jane said in a pleading voice, which was clearly filled with pain as well. “You’re my best friend, Maur. You can tell me anything.”

Maura was silent for a moment. For half a second, she thought of telling Jane about all the feelings rushing around inside her. How all she could think about was being near to her, how she thought about touching her, kissing her, how she longed to know if Jane ever felt the same impulses. But when she turned and looked Jane in the eyes, she could not make herself do it. Maura could not risk ever losing the way that Jane looked at her like she did at that very moment, her eyes so full of love and concern.

“I’m sorry.” Maura whispered, fighting back tears.

“Shh…” Jane said, lying down beside her, wrapping her arms around Maura comfortingly, “…it’s okay.”

They remained like that for a while in silence. Maura nestled her back into Jane, letting Jane’s hand fall to her waist. She felt Jane’s breath on the back of her neck, slow and steady. She closed her eyes and tried to savor the moment, tried to prevent her mind from wandering into fantasy, to just let herself enjoy this moment beside her best friend.

“Jane?” Maura had said after a deep inhale of breath.

“Yeah, Maur?” the brunette said, lifting her head off the pillow.

“Could we just… stay here…like this?” Maura said, feeling Jane’s hand rubbing her arm soothingly.

“Yeah,” Jane had said, laying her head back down on the pillow and pulling her body closer to Maura, hugging her from behind, “of course.”

Maura’s mind returned to the present as Jane posed that question again, “You okay, Maur?”

Maura looked down at the open bottle of beer in her hand. She had not even taken a sip. Jane, on the other hand, had finished hers and grabbed a second. Her grilled cheese lay unfinished on the plate on the counter. She was too concerned with Maura to bother finishing it.

She watched Maura carefully. Where had the joyful, laughing Maura gone? The honey blond suddenly looked serious, almost sorrowful. Jane thought back to the other night, wondering if Maura would ever tell her why she had fallen asleep crying.

Not that the doctor had been weeping when Jane held her, but she had sensed Maura’s distress, and she had seen Maura’s eyes water. She had sniffled some, wiping her eyes carefully, as to not bring attention to herself. But Jane had noticed, and it had left her heartbroken, wishing she knew how to console her friend.

Maura’s crying had soon ceased, however, as her breathing slowed ,and she quickly fell asleep in her arms. Jane had spent a long part of that night staring at the back of Maura’s neck, wondering what was coming over her. Lately, she had been feeling a strange magnetism calling her nearer to the doctor whenever they were close and alone.

Presently, it was that magnetism that caused Jane to scoot around the counter and stand in front of Maura, looking at her facial features closely. She wished she could read Maura as well as she could read a perp, maybe then she would have some inkling as to what was bothering her. But the doctor was not a perp, and her emotions were unreadable, as jumbled and complex as her fascinating mind.

Jane rubbed Maura’s arms comfortingly, wishing her friend would speak. She remained patient, however, because she knew that Maura was simply searching for the words.

“Jane, I…” Maura said, finally looking her best friend in the eyes. She owed Jane an explanation, she had waited patiently for nearly a week, but what could she tell her?

For a fleeting moment she wondered if the look in Jane’s eyes could possibly be that of love—not just friendly love but something deeper, something far more intense. She shook her head, chasing those thoughts from her mind. She swallowed, trying to fight the urge to lean forward and touch the lips she found her eyes glued to.

Jane frowned at her friend, watching the internal battle play out in her hazel eyes. Jane watched as her gaze kept flicking down. Was she staring at her lips? The detective’s heart faltered, her breath catching. She suddenly became aware of the doctor’s body heat radiating toward her, the sweet smell of her perfume. Jane felt Maura shiver under her hands, still at her shoulders. Maura’s honey colored hair tickled at Jane’s fingers.

“Yes?” Jane said breathlessly, swallowing nervously. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears. Her eyes darted to Maura’s lips, suddenly curious what they might taste like.

_Did I just lick my lips?_ Jane thought frantically as she felt her finger curl into Maura’s soft, silky hair. _Damn, Maura, what are you doing to me?_

Maura could not bear the aching in her heart. She desperately longed to just blurt it out, just spill her guts right then and there. _I love you!_ Maura screamed in her head, _Can’t you see that? Don’t you know that I love you—that I’m **in** love with you!_

Then Maura saw Jane look down at her lips and lick her own. No! She had just imagined it, she told herself. Jane did not, could not, feel the same for her. Jane was not comfortable with her sexuality like Maura was. Jane was attracted to men. She had never shown any interest in Maura, or any woman for that matter.

Jane’s hand wandered to Maura’s neck, the tips of her fingers caressing the muscles running up from Maura’s collarbone to her jawline. Jane’s eyes were watching her hand with an almost dumbfounded expression on her face, as if her body was moving of its own accord and she was powerless to stop it. The detective breathed in quiet gasps, as if having to consciously will her lungs to function.

Finally, Jane’s eyes met Maura’s. The doctor shivered at the look in those dark brown eyes, a look of desire. _No!_ Maura thought, stepping back suddenly. She was surely going mad. Her fantasies were spilling into her waking moments.

Maura quickly turned to leave. She could stand to be under Jane’s gaze no longer, not without saying—or rather doing—something she would most likely regret moments later. No matter how much she wanted to, she could not risk their friendship for any reason.

But Jane caught her by the hand. The detective spun her around dizzyingly fast. Maura stumbled forward slightly. Jane felt her hand slip behind the doctor’s back, not to catch her, but to pull her closer. She caught Maura’s parted mouth with her own, muffling a small gasp from the honey blond.

Every muscle in Maura’s body relaxed as Jane wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling Maura taut against her muscular body. For a brief moment she let herself believe that the moment was real, that Jane’s tongue on her lips was not simply part of yet another wet dream, the detective really did step forward, causing Maura to bump onto the counter behind her.

Suddenly, Maura broke the kiss, dropping her hands from where they had pulled yearningly at Jane’s neck. She looked up at her friend with her eyes wide, her mouth open in shock. Maura blinked, wandering if she really had the ability to imagine something so vividly.

Jane looked at her with just as much shock. She stepped back, releasing Maura’s waist. Her mouth moved, but nothing came out at first. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest. What had she just done? Where did that come from?

(to be continued)


	2. Too Little, Too Late

“I’m—Maura I’m so sorry!” Jane finally stuttered, “I don’t…I don’t know what I was thinking…I just…”

Jane was unsure of what to do with her arms; they seemed oddly empty without Maura. She scratched the back of her head, watching the doctor nervously. When Maura said nothing, Jane ran her hands over her face anxiously. She could feel herself starting to shake.

_What the fuck were you thinking, Jane?!_ She cursed at herself. She wished Maura would speak, but she was silent, her hands gripping the counter behind her, her knuckles were white, and her arms were trembling slightly. Jane was sure Maura was going to cry.

“God, Maur!” Jane said, wishing she could wrap her up in her arms, but she feared nearing her would make Maura even more upset. “I’m sorry—damn it I always make things worse!” She cursed herself loudly.

“Why?” Maura said in a barely audible whisper, still staring at the floor.

“Why?” Jane said tossing her hands up in the air with angry resignation—not at Maura, but with herself, “I don’t know Maura, I’m just a complete ass!”

“No…” Maura said her voice quivering, tears spilling from her eyes as she finally looked up into Jane’s eyes, “Why did you kiss me?”

“Why did I kiss…” Jane said, her eyes wide. _Why the fuck did you kiss her?_ Jane thought to herself. _Because I didn’t want you to leave… because it just happened … because I wanted to so badly._ Jane looked at her friend at a complete loss for words.

“You kissed me.” Maura reiterated, more to reassure herself than anything else. _You did not imagine that… that really happened._ She thought, peering up at Jane. “But… why?”

“I don’t know.” Jane finally whispered. “I just…”

How could she explain this to her friend? How could she make Maura understand what she didn’t understand herself? All of this tension, it just kept building and building. They didn’t talk about it—no Jane purposely avoided talking about it, ever since that whole thing with Giovanni.

Jane hadn’t thought much about it at first, but in light of recent events, the whole conversation about Giovanni and whether or not Maura was attracted to her seemed a little strange. Jane had been trying to convince Maura not to see him but had not succeeded. Then Maura suddenly compared her to him.

“Well so are you.” Maura had said, pointing out how different the Maura and her were, and how alike her and Giovanni were, “Except for being an auto mechanic, and we’re best friends.”

“Yes.” Jane had conceded. She had given Maura a smirk. “But I’m interesting… and…” she said looking at Maura expectantly, “you don’t want to sleep with me.”

Jane had been surprised to see Maura cock her head to the side in a suggestive manner. Surely, she was simply being playful, Jane had thought, but for a split second she worried that Maura was actually considering the idea.

“You don’t, do you?” Jane had said in complete awe of even a hint of curiosity on Maura’s part.

Now, after all that happened tonight, Maura’s claim that she wasn’t attracted to the detective did not seem so sincere. She wondered if Maura had lied to spare Jane embarrassment or discomfort. But it wasn’t like her to lie, even if it was to spare someone’s feelings. Then again, maybe Maura hadn’t been interested at the time. Maybe her feelings had changed since then, grown.

Jane looked down at her clearly distraught friend with empathy. Maura was more open about her feelings—her sexuality. Maura had obviously been able to think rationally about what she was feeling. Despite her tears now, just a moment ago Jane had felt Maura’s hunger. The feel of the doctor’s desperate grip on her neck, the lingering taste of Maura’s mouth on her lips, they told a story of longing, of consent.

Suddenly, fear stabbed her right in the gut. What did this mean? Would this change their friendship? Could they ever go back to the way it was? Jane wasn’t sure of anything except that she didn’t want to be without Maura ever again. The kiss—these feelings—threatened their friendship. Jane couldn’t have that.

“Maura, I’m sorry, I never should have done that.” Jane said, trying to place a comforting hand on Maura’s shoulder.

Maura looked up at Jane in horror. Her heart shattered into a million pieces. For a fleeting moment Maura had hoped, had prayed, that Jane had acted out of a desire for their relationship to be something more. Suddenly, Jane wanted to take it all back.

She shrunk away from the brunette, looking up at her in disbelief. She wiped at her face, trying to compose herself. Instead, Maura found herself growing agitated, even angry. If Jane didn’t feel that way about her than she never should have kissed her in the first place, she thought.

“I have to go!” Maura suddenly hissed at her, she darted out of the kitchen and collected her things as quickly as possible.

“No! Maur, please don’t go, not like this!” Jane called, following her. She tried to make Maura look at her, but the doctor pulled her arm away fiercely. Jane pleaded, “I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you! I swear!”

“Well, you did.” Maura seethed, pushing Jane off her and refusing to look at her.

Maura slammed the door shut behind her as she sprinted from Jane’s apartment. She pressed fervently at the elevator button. Jane’s door opened, and she ran towards her. Maura headed for the stairs, ignoring Jane calling after her. When she made it to the street, she hailed a taxi before Jane could spot which direction she had gone.

She slammed the door closed just as Jane reached the car. “Please,” Jane hollered through the window, banging on the locked door, “can we just talk?”

Maura didn’t look at her and the driver sped off down the street, eager to leave the frantic detective behind. Maura couldn’t help but glance in the behind her briefly. Jane stood in the middle of the street, blocking several cars. Her hands were thrown up in desperation and in the glimmer of headlights Maura could see she was still yelling after her. Maura closed her eyes. She desperately wished that that wouldn’t be the last image she saw of her best friend. Honestly, though, she didn’t know how she was ever going to face Jane again.

Jane watched the taxi’s taillights disappeared into the Boston traffic, exhaust fumes left in its wake. The detective hollered down the dark street, but Maura was gone. She threw up her arms in furious resignation, several cars blaring their horns behind her.

“Oh fuck off!” Jane yelled agitatedly, spinning around and banging her hands flat onto the hood of the car behind her.

“Hey!” the driver screamed out the window, “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

Jane ran her hands through her hair. “I don’t know.” Jane mumbled to herself as she headed back to her apartment building.

Had she been able to think rationally, she would have let Maura be, let things cool off. She knew she should just cut her losses and take the weekend to think things over, but her mind was racing, her heart pounding.

Jane took out her phone and speed-dialed Maura’s cell. No answer. She called again and it went straight to voicemail. Frustrated, she pressed end without leaving a message. She tried Maura’s house, but still no answer.

_She’s not even home yet, Jane!_ She scolded herself, slamming her apartment door closed behind her.

Jane dropped down onto the couch letting out a loud, frustrated sigh. “Maur…” she lamented to the empty apartment.

Jo Friday hopped up next to her. She set her head down on Jane’s lap, whining at her sympathetically. The dog looked up at the detective with her puppy eyes, wagging her tail encouragingly.

“Don’t you go getting attached to me, Jo—I’m nothing but trouble.” Jane said patting the small dog lightly on the head. Jo Friday barked at her and stood up, as if rebuking the detective for her self-loathing. She pushed the dog off her in agitation and headed for the shower.

“How are you going to fix this one, huh?” Jane mumbled to herself as she peeled her clothes off, waiting for the water to heat up.

Jane stepped into the shower, letting the hot water run down the tense muscles of her back. She let the water run into her hair, over her face. She rubbed at her eyes, fighting back tears.

The image of Maura crying flashed into her mind. She watched helplessly as Maura sobbed, the memory playing over and over. Angrily Jane slammed her fist on the wall of the shower, tears hidden by the steaming water running down her face.

_How could you have done that without thinking? Thinking about the consequences—thinking about why you wanted to do it in the first place?_ the detective thought furiously.

“Why?” Maura’s trembling voice resounded in Jane’s mind, “Why did you kiss me?”

“Because…” Jane said to the shower, her voice softening, as if Maura was there to hear it. Jane wracked her brain. Images flashed through her mind. Maura’s smile, the sweet sound of her laugh, the cute look Maura gave her whenever she made a sarcastic comment.

She remembered Maura soft lips—she could even recall their taste—her shimmering hazel eyes, her silky, honey colored hair. Jane vividly recollected how the curves of Maura’s waist felt as she slid her hands around them, the way Maura breasts felt as they pressed against her own, the way her heart had pounded in her chest as Maura grasped passionately at her neck.

The words spilled from Jane’s mouth of their own accord, “…because I’m in love with you.”

(to be continued)


	3. It’s Been A Long Time Coming

“Jane, where were you last night?” Frankie said with a frown as Jane walked into the department. “Ma was worried sick about you.”

“Yeah, I know.” The detective said glancing at her phone, eleven missed calls, four voicemails, all from Angela Rizzoli she was sure. Jane shrugged at him, “I had work to do.”

Jane had holed up in her apartment most of the weekend, festering. On Sunday, the Rizzoli family dinner night, she had not even mustered up the will power to call and let them know she wasn’t coming. She couldn’t bare all the questions her mother would most certainly pester her with.

‘Where’s Maura, Janie?’ Jane could imagine her mother inquiring her in a rebuking tone, ‘What did you do now?’

Rather than have her mother nagging her all night long, she had hidden like a coward, listening to her phone ring again and again. Each time her heart had leapt for only a brief moment, hopeful that Maura would miraculously decide to be on speaking terms again. After the fourth time of seeing “Mom” flash on the screen she had thrown it angrily across the living room. It had hit the opposite wall, the battery popping out.

Jane had buried her head under a couch pillow for nearly an hour before she had bothered to get up and put it back together. She had just picked it up when she heard the apartment door open.

“Janie?” her mother called into the dim apartment. “You better be here young woman.”

“Ma!” Jane complained, she should have known that there would be no hiding from her mother. “Is it too much to knock?”

“I have a key.” Angela said frowning, still looking at her with a scolding expression.

“I know.” Jane said, rolling her eyes agitatedly, closing the door behind her mother. “I am very much aware of that fact.”

“You didn’t show up to dinner.” Angela said squinting at her oldest daughter as she flicked on the light.

“I know, Ma!” Jane said irritably, heading for the kitchen. “I had work to do.”

“What, here in the dark?” her mother said incredulously. She set her purse and keys down on the counter, studying Jane closely. “You didn’t answer your phone.”

“It broke.” Jane said dropping it on the counter in front of her mother as she opened the beer she had grabbed from the fridge. That wasn’t really true, but Jane had ceased to care. She took a sip of her beer, then squinted and pinched the bridge of her nose. All this beer and no food had given her a hangover, but she hadn’t felt like going out to buy groceries. Normally she just ate leftovers from the take-out Maura and she ordered, but there wouldn’t be any more of that.

Angela’s voice softened, as it only very rarely did when she spoke to her daughter, “Jane, what’s wrong? Did you and Maura have another fight?”

“What?” Jane said frowning at her mother, “What makes you think that?”

“Because Maura stopped by this morning,” Angela said watching the brunette with concern, “she apologized and said she couldn’t make it to dinner tonight.”

“Did she say why?” Jane said, unable to hide her curiosity for any piece of information on how Maura was doing.

“She tried to tell me she had a lot of work to catch up on,” Angela said squinting suspiciously at Jane, “Then explained that she didn’t think it was a good idea and wouldn’t say anything more.”

Jane was silent. The real reason she had avoided going to dinner was not only because it would be held at Maura’s guesthouse, but also because she was sure that Maura would not be there. Jane would have to sit at the dinner table next to Maura’s empty seat, sit on the couch without Maura snuggling beside her, do the dishes in the kitchen without Maura chatting with her. Without Maura, Sunday dinners were just … dinner.

“Don’t worry, Janie, you guys will work things out.” Her mother said, placing a sympathetic hand on Jane’s arm.

“I’m not so sure this time, Ma.” Jane had said fighting back tears.

Angela hugged her daughter tightly, “You guys will work this out just like you always do, Janie, trust me.”

Angela had left shortly after that, but not after rebuking Jane once again for not returning her calls. It had been late, so Jane had crawled into bed, clothes and all. She buried her head under her pillow, screaming into it with frustration.

She tossed the pillow at the wall angrily, rolling over with an exasperated sigh. Jane’s hand hit the other side of the bed, Maura’s side—at least that was where Maura always slept when she stayed over. Jane’s hand wandered to Maura’s pillow, pulling it to her face. It smelled just like Maura’s hair, even though she had not slept there in more than a week.

Jane inhaled Maura’s smell deeply, her heart sinking. Could they ever fix what she had broken? Would Maura ever speak to her again? She knew that the doctor would have to work with her whether they liked it or not, but would Maura’s voice ever soften again, would she ever smile at her, join her for coffee, come to Sunday dinner?

Jane hid her face in Maura’s pillow, committing the scent to memory. _Who have you been kidding?_ She thought to herself as she drifted off into a restless sleep. _Trying to convince yourself you weren’t in love with your best friend?_

xxx

Upon showing up at the Boston PD, Jane had specifically avoided the café, not wanting to run into her mother there. But without her regular morning coffee and a horrible night’s sleep, she was running on empty. Yawning, she stood waiting for the elevator. She checked her phone, as she thought, all eleven missed calls were from her mother.

She listened to her voicemails as she rode the elevator up, three of them from her mother, frantically searching for Jane. She felt a stab of guilt in her gut, she could have at least called Frankie and told him that she wasn’t coming. Jane snorted, thinking about how her mother would have pestered him to no end.

As elevator doors opened, the fourth voicemail started. Silence, then a click as the phone disconnected. She wondered if that had been Maura, but her phone had been off, it had gone straight to voicemail. Jane stepped out of the elevator, heading for the bullpen, staring at her phone pensively.

“You okay?” Korsak said as Jane approached her desk.

“Hm?” Jane said, looking up at her former partner dazedly. She had been lost in thoughts about whether or not she should head down to the morgue to see if she could find Maura.

Korsak shrugged, “Something up?”

“Nah.” Jane said shaking her head, “Any new cases?”

Frost handed Jane a case file. “Yep.” He said with a nod, “Morning.”

“Yeah…” Jane said, her eyes scanning the file.

“You sure you’re okay?” Frost said.

“What? Why?” Jane said frowning at her young partner.

“First of all, you normally have some smartass quip about the unfortunateness of it being morning.” Frost said, squinting at her.

“Secondly,” Korsak added, “you’re reading that upside down.”

Jane blinked at the file in her hand. She hadn’t even noticed. Her mind had still been on that voicemail, her body merely mimicking the act of reading the case over. She looked up at Korsak and Frost, then tossed the file onto her desk.

“I’ll be back.” She said turning and heading straight back to the elevator.

“Where are you going?” Frost called after her.

“To do something I should have done a long time ago.” Jane said resolutely as the elevator doors closed.

xxx

Maura had come in very early that morning. It wasn’t that she had a lot of work to catch up on or anything; she simply needed the distraction. There was something about the structure and organization of the work environment that usually calmed her in times of stress.

The problem was, she didn’t have much work to do. Except for finishing up some paperwork on some cases, she had little to distract herself with. There were no bodies in the morgue, no evidence to examine. Of course, had there been any new cases, Maura would have to deal with working with Jane directly. She didn’t know if she was ready for that yet.

All weekend long she had dreaded it whenever her phone rang. Jane had called her several times, but that wasn’t really what bothered her. What she really didn’t want was for the department to call and ask her to come to a crime scene. Despite how much she longed for something to distract herself, she kept wondering how she would be able to compose herself when Jane showed up.

The department didn’t call, a rare occurrence, especially for the weekend, which left Maura with nothing but her thoughts. The memories from Friday night kept threatening to overcome her as she tried to focus on anything other than the detective. She had tried yoga, meditation, jogging, going to the gym, nothing worked. Everywhere she went Jane followed her.

_Why?_ She thought, suddenly opening her eyes. She had been attempting to meditate once again, there on her living room floor, for nearly an hour. _Why did she kiss me if she isn’t attracted to me?_

Maura wondered if the Jane had simply been caught up in the moment. But that didn’t make any sense to the doctor. It wasn’t as if it had been a particularly compromising moment, it wasn’t as if either of them was intoxicated. Maura tried to shake Jane from her thoughts.

Still, Jane’s horrified expression burned in Maura’s memory. If the detective had thought that kissing her would comfort her somehow, why did Jane look so surprised when Maura looked up at her? What did that fear mean? Was it fear of what she had done or why she had done it?

_Who do I have now?_ She thought to herself as she stood up, giving up on meditation again. _Where do I go without my best friend to console me?_

For some reason, the uncompromising detective was the only person in the world that understood her. Despite how often the two butted heads, Jane was Maura’s only true confidant. Jane was more than her partner, her protector, she was the only person she sincerely trusted. After all those who had lied to her, abandoned her, betrayed her, Jane was the one person Maura never thought would hurt her.

Who did she have now to help her understand? Who would hold her and let her cry without question—without judgment? When Ian had left, it had been Jane that was strong for her, Jane who had helped her put the pieces of her heart back together. Now whom did she have to turn to?

These questions had haunted Maura all weekend long, no matter how hard she tried to engross herself in distractions. She had been so preoccupied by these worries that she had even picked up her phone and stared at it for a while, wondering who she could call. In the end, Jane was the only one she had. But as soon as she heard the detectives recorded voice, she had no idea what to say.

Now, as she sat in her office scrolling the through shoe sales with nothing else to do, her anxiety was eating at her again. She sighed heavily.

Abruptly, there was a soft knock at the door. Maura looked up to see the tall, brunette detective standing in her doorway, a very cautious smile on her face. For a fleeting second, Maura’s heart fluttered, an instinctual reaction to the sight of her best friend. Then everything that had happened came crashing back down on her.

“Hey…?” Jane said, approaching Maura carefully, breathlessly. “Can we talk?”

“Is there something I can help you with, detective?” Maura said more coldly then she had intended. She was avoiding looking Jane in the face, unsure if she could remain professional if she looked up into the detective’s coffee brown eyes.

“Maur,” Jane said following the doctor as searched for something to busy herself with, “please, don’t be like that.”

“If you want to have a personal discussion,” Maura said sorting some files into her filing cabinet, “this is neither the time nor the place.”

“I don’t care where we are.” Jane said, talking to the back of Maura’s head, wishing she would just turn around and look her in the eye. “We need to talk about what happened.”

Maura spun around. Her eyes flared as she looked Jane right into the eyes, “You kissed me. You regretted it. I left. That’s what happened.”

“Maura, I didn’t—I mean I don’t—” Jane said, suddenly interrupted by her phone ringing. She looked at Maura pleadingly before glancing at the screen.

“This better be good, Frost.” Jane said, staring desperately after Maura, who had retreated back to her desk.

“Yeah, we’ve got two more bodies.” Frost said, “Where are you?”

“I’m downstairs—what do you mean more bodies?” Jane said, only half listening.

“If you had read that case file you would know what I’m talking about.” Frost quipped, “You better get your ass to the scene quick before Cavanaugh has a heart attack. He wasn’t very happy when you left without warning.”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.” Jane said after Frost gave her the address. She looked up at Maura who had just hung up the phone on her desk.

Maura was grabbing her coat when Jane hung up. She glanced at the detective briefly and then headed for the door. Jane touched her lightly on the arm. “Please, Maura, can we talk about this later?”

Maura looked up at her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. The doctor wasn’t sure she was ready for what Jane had to say. But Jane looked at her so desperately, so pleadingly, that she finally nodded.

(to be continued)


	4. Everything's Different Now

The detective and the doctor rode to the crime scene in relative silence. Maura had reluctantly accepted Jane’s offer to drive. Normally she objected because of Jane’s reckless distractedness while at the wheel. This time, however, Maura really just wasn’t looking forward to being restricted to the confines of Jane’s cramped unmarked car.

“Where are you going?” Jane had asked as Maura headed in the opposite direction as soon as they left the Boston PD building.

Maura frowned, as if it were obvious, “I parked down the street.”

“Come on, Maur.” Jane said with a pleading look on her face, “There’s no need for that.”

“I’m just not sure it’s a good idea.” Maura said, shaking her head.

“I know I’m not the best driver—” Jane kidded but stopped as soon as she saw the incredulous look on Maura’s face. Jane tossed her head back and let out a frustrated sigh.

Maura watched her with an agitated expression, crossing her arms, her body tense. Jane’s attempt to lighten the mood was far from appreciated. Maura shook her head, wondering how she was going to make it through the day—no less this whole situation.

“Maura,” Jane said looking at her from the other side of her car, “I know you’re upset with me, but this is ridiculous. You’re my best friend.”

Maura peered at the detective briefly. Jane was clearly distressed. Maura just wished they could talk about it, but they had a job to do.

“I really need for us to be okay.” Jane said in a desperate whimper.

“Fine.” Maura finally mumbled, climbing into the passenger seat.

Before Jane started the car, she had turned to the doctor and smiled weakly. She had felt the overwhelming desire to just whisper “thank you,” but, instead, she had put the car into gear and pulled out onto the street.

The crime scene was on the other side of town and the rush hour traffic was still heavy. They ended up sitting in awkward silence for a long time. Jane probably should have turned on the sirens and maneuvered around the other cars, but she kept glancing at Maura instead. Her stomach was tied in knots as she argued with herself on whether or not she should say something. She bit her lip, grasping the steering wheel with white knuckles.

“Maura?” she finally blurted out.

“Hm?” Maura said, not breaking her gaze out the window.

“I’m sorry.” Jane uttered.

“The traffic is hardly your fault.” Maura said absent-mindedly. She had been hoping that Jane would just keep quiet, wait till after they were finished at the crime scene to bring up the inevitably awkward conversation. The doctor didn’t want to be getting emotional while on the job.

“No, I mean about Friday.” Jane said, wishing Maura would just look at her.

“You’re the only one who regrets what happened.” Maura said with a sigh, still refusing to look at her best friend.

“Look,” Jane said placing her hand on Maura’s, causing the doctor to turn her head around, “I don’t regret it for the reason you think.”

Maura frowned at her. Her heart started to lighten despite the fact that she still wanted to be angry with the tall brunette. Still, she was unsure of what Jane was trying to say.

When Maura said nothing, Jane continued glancing at her briefly every few seconds. “When I …” Jane struggled with the word, “…kissed you… I really didn’t understand why I had; all I knew was that I didn’t want you to leave. But when you looked up at me like that… I thought—I thought I had ruined everything.”

“Jane,” Maura said grasping Jane’s hand in a reassuring gesture, “you haven’t ruined anything.”

Jane gave a small smile, squeezing Maura’s hand in return. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I just panicked. I just… Maura, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Jane parked the car as they approached the scene. She looked up at Maura who was smiling widely with watery eyes. Jane squeezed Maura’s hand again, reiterating the sincerity of her words.

Maura didn’t know what to say. Jane’s words had certainly stifled her worries that Jane did not return her feelings, but she still felt a nagging sense of apprehension. It was as if things were so much more complicated now. Maura just wanted to know where Jane saw this going, but she didn’t know how to ask.

They had been staring at each other for several minutes before either of them realized they were just inches apart. Suddenly Jane felt awkward again. Not an uncomfortable, upset awkwardness but a blushing, butterflies-in-her-stomach kind of awkwardness. Maura’s hazel eyes were dipped down, gazing at the detective’s lips.

“Hey!” Frost said tapping at the window loudly, “Jane, you guys coming?”

Jane closed her eyes in frustration, leaning back into her seat. “You have the shittiest timing, Frost.”

“Huh?” he said, stooping down to look into Jane’s window. He frowned at them, “What? You two having a moment or something?”

“No!” Jane said quickly, opening the door and knocking Frost in the knees as he tried to back away.

“What was that for?” Frost said with a frown.

“For being nosey.” Jane said, heading for the yellow police tape. “Since when were you my little brother, Frankie, anyway?”

“Hey!” Frankie hollered from his spot on the edge of the crime scene, “Don’t use my name like an insult!”

“What are you doing here?” Jane said as her and Maura ducked under the tape, approaching two bodies slouched over a picnic table.

“Crowd control.” Frankie said with a nonchalant expression.

“Really?” Jane said in an unbelieving tone, looking around the park. There were maybe a dozen by-standers, all whispering frantically, most with camera-phones out. No more crowd than usual.

“Trust me,” Frankie said pointing to the local news van that had just pulled up, “the news is spreading fast.”

“Well maybe you should be doing your job, then.” Jane retorted pointing to the teenagers trying to duck under the police tape with a digital camcorder. “And keep them from spreading video evidence all over the Internet.”

Jane laughed lightly as Frankie spun around and walked quickly over to the teenagers, apparently noticing them for the first time. The detective was oddly happy as she approached the bodies of an elderly couple hunched over a picnic lunch. Jane tried to remain professional, but her heart was feeling lighter than it had in weeks. She didn’t know where things were going with her and Maura but being back into her normal routine was soothing her frayed nerves.

Jane bent down to examine the body of the elderly man first. Maura was taking the temperature of the female corpse, frowning slightly.

“What’s up?” Jane inquired.

“Strange…” she muttered, “rigor mortis is completely set in.”

Jane peered up at Frost, “When did the report come in, Frost?”

“About forty minutes ago.” Frost said pointing to two joggers being questioned by police on the other side of the crime scene tape. A tall, athletic guy in his twenties was consoling a sobbing blonde. “They were jogging by when the girlfriend recognized Mr. and Mrs. Thompson here as her neighbors.”

“How long have they been here?” Jane asked Maura as she checked Mr. Thompson.

“They’ve been dead for at least 12 hours.” Maura said, examining the male cadaver next.

“No one noticed them lying here all night?” Jane said with surprise.

Frost shrugged, “This is a fairly secluded park. Not too many people have access to this neighborhood.” He pointed to the development that surrounded the small square.

“Any guesses as to cause of death?” Jane asked the doctor.

Maura looked up at the detective with an exasperated expression, and then continued to collect samples from the food, swatting away a swarm of flies.

“I always forget.” Jane said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Frost, “So what do these two have to do with the body from Boston Medical?”

Jane was referring to the case file she had briefly looked at that morning. Despite the fact that it had been upside-down, she remembered seeing a copy of a patient file underneath the picture of the victim. What didn’t make any sense was how that suspicious death had to do with Mr. and Mrs. Thompson here.

“The witness there,” Frost said pointing to the girlfriend who had finally stopped crying, “she’s Tom Johnson’s daughter. She was the one who requested that an autopsy be performed on her father.”

“Requested?” Jane said with a frown, “The doctors didn’t suspect foul-play?”

“Nope.” Frost said as they approached the two witnesses. “His doctor claimed it was a severe case of food poisoning.”

“Food poisoning?” Jane said with shock, “What does the daughter think?”

“She’s claiming it was murder. She claims it was her father’s rival. Apparently, he’s been trying to ruin his business,” Frost said.

“Hello, Miss Johnson,” Jane said in a sympathetic, consoling tone, reaching out to shake the blond woman’s hand. “I’m Detective Rizzoli. This is my partner Detective Frost. We’re very sorry for your loss.”

The twenty-something woman nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. “Thank you,” she said in a shaky voice, “It’s Jennifer. This is my boyfriend, Josh Finch.” She placed a hand on her boyfriend’s arm.

“Finch?” Frost said, glancing at Jane briefly, then back at the tan skinned, dark-haired man, “Any relation to Gene Finch, Mr. Johnson’s rival?”

“Yes,” Josh said with a curt nod, “he’s my uncle.”

“Daddy and Mr. Finch have hated each other for years, ever since my Dad opened his restaurant across from Gene’s.” Jennifer said peering at Josh carefully, “He never really liked the two of us dating.”

“It’s none of his business.” Josh said staring at the detectives with a bitter look on his face. It seemed to be a sensitive issue.

“Daddy didn’t care,” Jennifer reassured Jane and her partner, grasping her boyfriend comfortingly. “He said as long as I’m happy, he’s happy.”

“What did he think of Gene?” Jane inquired.

“Gene was constantly trying to sabotage Daddy’s business, sending the health department on him, getting customers to file false complaints, even starting a protest outside his restaurant.” Jennifer said.

“You think your Uncle could be involved in Mr. Johnson’s death?” Frost asked Josh.

“I don’t know.” Josh said dismissively, becoming uncomfortable. Jane noticed he had started to become restless, twitchy. “I’m not very close with Uncle Gene. Him and my father don’t really get along very well.”

Jane peered at her partner, wondering if Frost had noticed his change in behavior as well. Frost was squinting at Josh with suspicion. Jane changed the topic, taking note of her partner’s agreement.

She turned to Jennifer, “Did you know the Thompsons very well?”

The blond nodded, new tears welling up in her eyes. “They are regulars at Tommy-John’s…at least they were.” Jennifer looked over to where Dr. Isles was supervising the Thompsons being carefully put into body bags. She gripped at her boyfriend’s waist tightly. “They’ve been going to Daddy’s restaurant since I was a little girl. They’ve lived in the apartment above the shop next door since before he opened it.”

“Well,” Jane said, noticing Maura packing up her things, “We’re going to need you both to come down to the station to answer a few questions.”

“Why?” Josh said releasing his girlfriend and stepping back. “We didn’t do anything.”

Jane frowned, “We just need you to complete your statements back at the station.”

Josh looked agitated. “I have to get to work soon.” he said.

Jane glanced at her watch, it was nearly ten o’clock in the morning, a strange time to be heading to work. “Really?” she said squinting at him warily.

“I work at home.” He explained. “But I have a lot of work to catch up on.”

“Well,” Frost said, standing closer to Josh, just in case he was about to sprint off, “We’ll be sure to take as little of your time as possible.”

xxx

Maura and Jane followed Frost back to the station. Frost had taken the two witnesses in his squad car, leaving the two women to discuss the case together on their way back. Jane was still mulling over the boyfriend’s behavior as Maura discussed what she had found at the scene.

“The only thing that was suspicious at all was that there was nothing suspicious. It’s as if the two of them passed away just sitting there.” Maura said, peering at Jane. The detective’s mind was clearly at work, a puzzled look on her face. Maura smiled, admiring how intelligent Jane was, despite how she acted to the contrary.

Jane huffed, “So no clues is a clue?”

“Well,” Maura said, reluctant to speculate, “I won’t be able to determine cause of death until I perform autopsies, but it seems unlikely that the two of them died of natural causes within such a close timeframe.”

“Yeah,” Jane nodded, “and considering Josh Finch’s strange behavior, it seems unlikely that their deaths are not linked to Johnson’s.”

“Well,” Maura said tilting her head and raising her eyebrows as Jane glanced at her, “you said they were regulars of his restaurant. Food born illnesses are especially dangerous in the elderly population. Perhaps we have an outbreak on our hands.”

Jane cracked a smile, “Look at you Miss Junior Detective!”

Maura laughed, “I’m merely pointing out that food poisoning is a possibility.”

“I didn’t think a day would come that you would make a guess about anything.” Jane said, smiling at the honey blond.

“I’m just full of surprises.” Maura said, taking Jane’s hand in hers, a wide smile on her face, her hazel eyes shining.

Jane’s heart started to pound in her chest as Maura ran her thumb over the top of her hand absent-mindedly. She peered at Maura, but she had turned to stare out the window. Maura sighed contentedly, sitting back in her seat.

The detective became acutely aware of the goose bumps the doctor was causing to rise on the flesh of her hand, and up her arm. She tried to breathe steadily, but there was something new and frightening about Maura’s touch. It wasn’t as if it was the first time that they had held hands, but suddenly it was so different than it had been before.

Finally, unable to stand it anymore she placed her hand on the wheel. Jane rarely drove with her hands on ten and two, so-to-speak, but suddenly she felt the overwhelming desire to remove her hand from Maura’s. She gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles, gulping uneasily.

“Jane?” Maura said softly.

“Yeah?” Jane said, trying to keep her voice even as she stared forward.

“You okay?” she said with concern.

“I’m just not ready.” Jane said barely audible.

“It’s not like we haven’t held hands before.” Maura said sounding confused.

“I know,” Jane said with a meek smile, glancing at Maura quickly, “it’s just different now.”

“Jane if you don’t want to do this…”

“No, Maur,” Jane said looking her straight in the eye as soon as she parked the car outside the station, “it’s not that I don’t want to do this…whatever this is we’re doing…It’s just that—this all so new to me.”

Maura nodded. They looked at each other for a while. The two of them smiled widely in unspoken understanding.

Jane sighed and leaned back, “Just be patient with me, okay?”

“I’ve been patient with you for years,” Maura smirked at her, “I suppose I can last a while longer.”

Jane blinked after her as Maura climbed out of the car. After a moment of sitting there in stunned silence, she jumped out of the car and sprinted after her.

“Years?” she called after Maura.

Maura spun around, smiling playfully at Jane with a raised eyebrow, “Yes, Jane. You are such a lesbian. I’ve just been waiting all this time for you to figure it out.”

Jane’s eyes widened at the word ‘lesbian” and Jane gritted her teeth. She glanced around, hoping no one had heard Maura’s comment. “Maura!” Jane spat, “Don’t use that word here!”

“What, _lesbian_?” Maura asked.

“Yes!” Jane fumed.

“But why?” Maura frowned, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“It’s not that,” Jane said uncomfortably, “it’s just…”

Maura blinked at her. She wondered if the brunette was having doubts about this already. They hadn’t even had the chance to talk about what they wanted, where their relationship was going. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all.

“Can we just talk about this later?” Jane said with agitation, heading for the elevator. “I have witnesses to question.”

Maura did not have the chance to reply; Jane had already stepped into an elevator on its way up. The door closed just as Maura reached it. Jane had her face buried in her hands. Maura let out an exasperated sigh.

(to be continued)


	5. Innocent Glances?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter gets into some of the technical stuff as far as the case. I only did a limited amount of research, so please excuse any inaccuracies or inconsistencies. It is much more difficult to create a case than I originally thought. Anyway, getting through this case will be worth it, I promise!

Maura was busy most of the morning down in the morgue with fresh cadavers to autopsy. She would have started with the body of Mr. Johnson, but his body had not yet been sent over from Boston Medical. Instead she reviewed the patient file and the preliminary report while her assistants prepped the other two bodies. From what the doctor could gather from the report it was a pretty straightforward case of food poisoning. The health department had finished their inspection of Tommie-John’s restaurant on Friday, ruling that it was an outbreak of food-borne illness _._

Apparently, the health department had been called in for the third time that month after two customers complained of nausea, vomiting, double vision and difficulty swallowing. What Maura found particularly puzzling was that the customers who had complained of symptoms had no sign of the bacteria in their bloodwork. Despite the fact that the health department noted several health code violations and several products tested positive for _Clostridium botulinum,_ the only ones to test positive for the bacteria were Mr. Johnson and the cadavers lying in the morgue.

“Hmph…” Maura said standing up, rubbing her stiff neck.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Jane said, sipping on a coffee. The detective had finished interviewing the witnesses about an hour ago and was just now finding the time to come down and check on the doctor’s progress.

“It’s strange…” Maura said, peering over her notes.

“What?” the detective said, watching Maura curiously as she took off her gloves, readily accepting the coffee the detective handed to her.

“The Thompsons appear to have succumbed to a Clostridium botulinum infection.” Maura said picking up Mr. Johnson’s medical file.

“In English?” Jane said blinking at her inanely.

“Botulism.” Maura said simply.

Jane looked taken aback, “Is that deadly?”

“It can be, especially without the proper medical treatment.” Maura said, “And according to the original autopsy, Mr. Johnson died of it as well.”

“So, you agree with the doctor’s diagnosis?” Jane inquired, somewhat surprised.

“I won’t know for sure until they send the body over and I perform a more thorough autopsy. However, the health department cited several health code violations: damaged canned goods, faulty heating equipment, improperly sanitized utensils.” Maura read the report aloud.

“And the Thompsons?” Jane said looking at her with an expectant expression.

“That’s the thing, even if Tom Johnson died of Botulism there’s no reason the Thompson’s would have died from the same outbreak.” Maura said gesturing towards the two cadavers she had just been finishing with.

“Why not?” Jane said with a frown, “I thought you said the elderly population is especially vulnerable to food poisoning.”

“Well, yes.” Maura explained, “Those populations with compromised immune systems like the elderly, infants, pregnant women, they are all susceptible to food-borne illness. And while the Thompson’s both have weak immune systems, there is no way they could have contracted the illness from the same source as Mr. Johnson.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’ve narrowed time of death to approximately between five and eight pm yesterday.” Maura said, watching Jane’s expression grow increasingly suspicious.

“And Tommie-John’s closed down Friday.” Jane said looking perturbed.

“Yes,” Maura confirmed with a nod, “Tom Johnson was admitted to Boston Medical late Thursday night. The health department closed the restaurant Friday afternoon.”

“Something isn’t adding up.” The detective said staring pensively off into the distance.

“I’ll say,” Maura agreed, “three Botulism related deaths from two separate events in only a few short days. You know, of the estimated 50 million cases of foodborne illnesses reported in the past ten years, only about 3,000 of them resulted in fatalities.”

Jane mumbled in agreement, not really paying attention. She was thinking about how Josh Finch had continued to act suspicious when her and Frost were interviewing him in the interrogation room this morning.

“The boyfriend didn’t have a very good alibi for this weekend.” Jane thought out loud.

“You think he had something to do with this?” Maura said, wondering for a moment if Jane was talking to her or to the wall.

Jane suddenly turned around, looking the doctor straight in the eye, “Maura, you think someone could have caused this outbreak on purpose?”

“From Jennifer Johnson’s statement, that seems to be what she’s claiming.”

“But is it possible?”

“I suppose,” Maura said with a shrug, “there are a lot of health codes that if purposefully ignored could create the optimum conditions for pathogen growth.”

“A nice way to get rid of the competition.” Jane said with a playful raise of her eyebrow.

“Still,” the doctor said tilting her head at Jane, “there is no way to ensure that Mr. Johnson wouldn’t seek medical attention. Botulism has a very high survival rate. And considering Mr. Johnson was in fairly good health, it’s surprising he was unable to recover.”

“Perhaps he had a bit of help.” Jane said taking the last sip of her coffee. “When will you be able to perform Tom Johnson’s autopsy?”

Maura shrugged, “The hospital is sending over the body sometime this afternoon.”

Jane tossed the paper coffee cup into the trash and looked up at Maura expectantly. She smiled, rubbing her hands together excitedly. “Well, you hungry?”

Maura frowned, “Hm?”

Jane peered down at her watch, “It’s almost two o’clock, you haven’t eaten already, have you?”

“No.” Maura said looking at her with a puzzled expression.

“Lunch.” Jane said gesturing for the door. “You want something to eat or not?”

“Are you sure you’ll be comfortable being seen with me in public?” Maura said sourly, suddenly remembering Jane’s behavior from that morning.

“What are you talking about?” Jane said with a furrowed brow. “We always have lunch together.”

Maura glowered at her, her hands on her hips. Jane glanced at her sheepishly. When Maura’s expression did not lighten, Jane sighed and looked at Maura mournfully.

“Maur.” she said placing a hand on Maura’s. Maura was crossing her arms across her chest looking at her scornfully. Jane looked at her pleadingly, “I’m sorry, please forgive me?”

It was silly, but Maura didn’t want to forgive her. Sure, Jane was going to need her time to adjust to things, but she didn’t understand why Jane cared so much what people thought about her all of a sudden. Besides, it wasn’t like people would be very surprised.

“Come on, please?” Jane whined bringing out the puppy-dog eyes and tugging at Maura’s hand.

Maura tried not to smile. She desperately tried not to crack her angry expression, “No. I’m still mad at you.”

Jane wasn’t buying it. She looked at Maura with a playful smile and a cocked eyebrow. “Really?”

Suddenly, and only very briefly, Jane leaned in and kissed Maura. It was a soft, chaste kiss, but Maura’s eyes closed instinctively, butterflies dancing in her stomach. She opened her eyes to see Jane smiling down at her.

Jane had no idea what had caused her to kiss Maura except for the fact that the doctor was absolutely adorable when she was angry. For a fleeting moment she forgot that they were still standing in Maura’s office, and that she was still worried about how this thing was going to work between them. Instead her mind was filled with memories of all those times she had buried the overwhelming desire to quiet Maura with her lips, and then she had remembered she didn’t have to hold that back anymore.

When the brief moment was over, she opened her eyes to see Maura blushing up at her. She saw the doctor catch her breath, her lips spreading into a contented smile. There was no way she could pretend to be angry now.

“How about now?” Jane said.

“Hm?” Maura said, blinking at her absentmindedly.

“Lunch?” Jane said gesturing for Maura to link her arm in hers.

Maura simply nodded and the two of them headed upstairs. When they reached the ground floor, the doctor headed for the Boston Police Café purely out of habit. But Jane tugged at Maura’s arm.

“Do we have to?” she complained, “I was hoping to avoid my—“ she grumbled as she saw her mother rushing to catch them.

“Angela!” Maura said, warmly. “We were just headed into the café.”

“Hello, Ma.” Jane said as she was forcefully led by the arm to their usual spot.

“Well I’m glad to see you two are getting along again!” Angela said as peered between the two of them.

“We are…” Maura said in a dreamy voice, smiling as Jane squirmed.

“Maura!” Jane said through gritted teeth, kicking at her under the table.

“Hey!” Maura said incredulously.

“Maybe not.” Angela said frowning at the two of them.

“Ma, we’re fine.” Jane said staring Maura down fiercely and cursing her under her breath.

“Yes, Angela, we’re fine. It was just a little misunderstanding.” Maura said, ignoring Jane, “And, again, I’m sorry about canceling yesterday.”

“It’s no problem, Maura.” she said before turning to Jane, “At least you have the common courtesy to let me know, unlike my _daughter_ here.”

“I said I was sorry, Ma!” Jane said with exasperation.

“Quite the misunderstanding.” Angela commented gesturing to Jane again, “From the way Janie was acting, you’d think the world was ending.”

Angela left with no further comment, having to attend to some customers. She left the two of them to read over their menus. Maura glanced up at Jane, grasping her hand. The look on her face asked if what Angela had said was true. Jane gave a small smile and nodded.

Last night her world had been ending. Without Maura nothing made any sense. Now, though, she had her best friend back. She had more than her best friend. But what exactly was Maura now?

“You ready to order?” Angela said cheerfully, appearing out of nowhere.

Jane suddenly pulled her hand under the table. She tried not to blush, but from the look on her mother’s face, Jane guessed she had not done well to hide her embarrassment. Maura simply stared at Jane in surprise. It wasn’t as if Angela had never seen them holding hands.

Maura smiled up at Angela, unabashed, “I’ll take the garden salad.”

Angela glanced at Jane, then back at Maura. She looked as if she suspected that the two of them were up to something, like a couple of children. After a moment, however, she shrugged it off.

“What about you, Janie?” she asked her daughter, a hint of suspicion still audible in her voice.

“How about some mac and cheese?” Jane said glancing at the menu only to avoid her mother’s eyes.

“Why do you even bother with this?” Angela said, snapping the menu from the brunette’s hands. “You always get the same thing.”

“That’s not true!” Jane said indignantly, “Sometimes I get pancakes.”

Maura laughed softly, as Angela walked away. She peered at Jane as she finished her coffee. Playfully, she winked at the detective.

“Can you not do that?” Jane mumbled.

“Do what?” Maura said innocently.

“Look at me like that.” Jane said, squirming in her chair.

“Like what?”

“With the dreamy eyes, and the batting eyelashes, and the winking.” Jane muttered staring into her glass of water.

“Why?” Maura said, raising an eyebrow suggestively. “You know you like it.”

“Maura!” Jane scorned her under her breath as she reached for her ringing phone. She looked at the doctor as she answered the call, a smile slipping from her lips, revealing that she had only been pretending to be so offended.

“RIZZOLI!” Jane screeched in an octave she didn’t know her voice could reach. Maura had just brushed her leg very blatantly with her foot just as Jane had answered the phone. Jane gave her a death-stare.

Maura batted her eyelashes innocently, despite Jane’s objections. Maura felt the urge to graze her leg again. Rather than being deterred by Jane’s menacing stare, she was instead distracted by a very vivid image of just what else could cause the detective to scream like that.

It was Maura’s turn to blush. She had never let her imagination take her quite that far. It wasn’t as if Maura had never thought of what Jane might look like under that button-up shirt and slacks. She had, however, trained herself not to let her imagination wander. Doing so would only lead to more heartache.

But was she allowed to think about that now? Could she let her mind wander over Jane’s lean, muscular body? Think about how her smooth, tan skin would feel under her fingers; imagine the way it would taste as she moved kisses down the valley of her chest—

“Maura?” Jane said waving a hand in front of Maura’s frozen, blushing expression. “Hello?”

The detective was still in awe of just how blatant Maura was being. Jane had been trying to focus on what Korsak was telling her, but she had been unable to ignore Maura’s gazing at her. She found it particularly uncomfortable. Not only was Maura openly admiring her body in front of the other customers—and her mother—she was acting suggestively. Jane had the distinct impression that Maura had other things on her mind than just lunch.

“Maura, my eyes are up here!” Jane said looking at her incredulously.

“I’m sorry.” Maura said, blinking at the detective with a stunned look on her face, as if waking from a trance. “That was highly unprofessional.”

Jane cracked a smile while Maura looked slightly embarrassed. Still, it wasn’t as if Jane was innocent or anything. In fact, Maura had noticed Jane ogling her many times. Last year, when Jane had gone “undercover” as a lesbian, Maura had very purposefully given Jane several chances to take a good look. Jane had proved to be far too convincing of an actress.

“Sorry, Ma,” Jane said standing up just as Angela came out with their dishes, “gotta go.”

She turned to Maura. “You behave!” The detective said pointing at her menacingly while unable to hide a smile.

(to be continued)


	6. The Investigation

“What was that all about?” Angela said sitting across from Maura, who was distractedly poking at her salad with a fork.

“Hm?” Maura said, suddenly remembering she was supposed to be eating with her food, not playing with it.

“Jane.” Angela said, frowning at the doctor. “She’s been acting so strange lately.”

Maura shrugged her shoulders, avoiding Angela’s eyes. She suddenly realized that Jane’s mother was going to interrogate her. Jane would not be happy if she said anything, at least not yet, but Maura was a horrible, horrible liar. It was almost as if it were physically painful for the doctor to lie. Suddenly, all she could think about was running away, but she was frozen stiff.

“That’s really something you should talk to her about,” Maura finally said.

“She doesn’t really talk to me,” Angela said with an exasperate sigh. “You’re her best friend, Maura, doesn’t she talk to you?”

“Talk to me about what?” Maura said, growing increasingly uncomfortable.

“I don’t know…” Angela said “I just worry about her. I know she thinks I pester her needlessly, but I just want her to be happy, you know? Just like every mother does.”

“I think she’s happy.” Maura said, wondering just how far Angela was willing to stretch her imagination when it came to Jane’s happiness.

“I wish she could just find a man to settle down with!” Angela said exasperatedly.

“She doesn’t need a man just to be happy.” Maura said quietly.

Angela let out an agitated huff. She looked at Maura curiously. The doctor was still avoiding the older woman’s eyes, focusing an awful amount of attention on her garden salad. The two were silent for a while.

“To be honest,” Angela said suddenly, standing up to return to work, “I’ve never seen her as happy as she is when she’s with you.”

Maura finally looked up at Angela. The doctor smiled shyly but said nothing. Angela was studying Maura’s face closely.

“You two are good for each other,” Angela finally said.

Maura blinked after Angela as she returned to her spot behind the counter. The doctor wondered if Angela had meant what Maura thought she meant; surely not. Angela was a caring mother, despite her nagging, but she was even more clueless than her daughter. The doctor was just glad that she had managed to survive the discussion without revealing anything to Jane’s mother. She had already pushed her luck far enough today. And though she had the feeling that she could get away with a lot of things, forcing Jane out of the closet wasn’t one of them.

xxx

Korsak and Frost met Jane outside the police station, and they all headed for Tommie-John’s to investigate both the restaurant and the Thompson’s apartment. Jane was hoping that they could find some more leads as to why the Thompson’s might be targeted by whoever was trying to put Tom Johnson out of business.

In the interview with Josh Finch, Jane and Frost had gotten the distinct impression that Johnson’s rival’s nephew was hiding something. After digging into the couple’s background, things weren’t looking good for either of them. Jennifer was dealing with a crippling amount of student loan and credit card debt and had been struggling to keep a steady job for months. Josh was an unsuccessful home business entrepreneur with overwhelming tax debts. What’s more is that Mr. Johnson had a very large life insurance policy that named Jennifer Johnson the primary beneficiary. 

But in her gut the detective felt that there was something more going on than what it looked like. For one thing, Josh and Jennifer were not engaged, meaning that young Mr. Finch had little to benefit from Mr. Johnson’s untimely death. What Jane doubted even more was Josh’s involvement in the sabotage of Tom Johnson’s business. From what Jennifer had told the detectives it was Josh who stood to inherit the Johnson’s family business.

Jane had looked at her doubtfully, but the blond insisted that it was true. According to Jennifer, when Josh’s online business had failed yet again, he had finally agreed to go work for her father as the restaurant’s manager. Until the restaurant closed last week, Josh had been working at the restaurant full time, while also struggling to keep his home business afloat. According to Josh, Jennifer’s father believed he could learn a bit about his rival Gene Finch by employing his nephew. When Josh had actually managed to improve Tommie-John’s business, Mr. Johnson had promised to make him half shareholder, Tom’s shares going to Jennifer upon his death.

So as Jane and the other two detectives were investigating the restaurant, they had two major questions on their minds. Firstly, who stood to benefit the most from Mr. Johnson’s death? Secondly, how did the Thompson’s get caught up in this whole ordeal? The answers to these questions were exactly what they were looking for when the three of them showed up at Tommie-John’s.

“I’m going to talk to the store owner here.” Korsak said, indicating the small shop that was below the Thompson’s apartment. He nodded to the restaurant across the street, _Finch’s Family Restaurant_ , “Why don’t you two see if Gene Finch has anything to say about what happened to his neighbors here?”

The two of them nodded. Inside the family diner they found the restaurant to be an unusual bustle of activity. The wait staff appeared to be getting ready for the early dinner rush. Jane peered around the restaurant, looking for a manager.

“Table for two?” the hostess asked, grabbing a couple of menus.

“No,” Jane said, the two detectives flashing their badges. “Boston P.D. We’re looking for Gene Finch. Is he around?”

“Nope,” the hostess said with a courteous smile, “I’m afraid he hasn’t been in since last week. Is there something I can help you with?”

Jane glanced at the hostess’s nametag. “Mandy,” the detective said, noticing familiar brown hair and blue eyes. “Mandy Finch, I’m guessing?”

“Yes.” Mandy said with a nod, “Gene Finch is my father. Why do you ask?”

“We’re looking into the death of Tom Johnson and two of his regular customers Dane and Mary Thompson.” Frost said.

Mandy turned up her nose at the mention of her father’s rival, “My father had nothing to do with that.”

“We just need to speak with him.” Jane said, “Do you know how to reach him?”

“I believe he’s at Alice’s place right now.” Mandy said. The detectives gave her a questioning look and then she added, “My sister’s. She takes care of him most of the time.”

Mandy took out a scrap piece of paper and wrote the address down for the detectives then looked up at Jane. “My father’s not well, Detective,” she said handing Jane the paper, “His mind is not what it used to be. Whether my father hated Mr. Johnson or not, there’s no way he had anything to do with what happened over there.”

Jane and Frost met Korsak outside of Tommie-John’s to discuss notes. Korsak said that the storeowner next door owned the flat above it. Apparently, the Thompson’s had been tenants in that apartment for nearly two decades, even though the store below it changed owners three times.

The storeowner had let Korsak and the forensics team into the apartment. While sergeant said he had not found much of interest in the small flat, he told the team collect several samples from the kitchen and other areas, just to be thorough. The health department had apparently been there earlier and would be filing their report in the morning.

“He claimed not to know much about them.” Korsak said of the storeowner as the three of them stood outside the restaurant waiting for Jennifer Johnson who was to let them in. “The Thompson’s spent most of their time next door. It seems they were very upset when it was closed down.”

Frost and Jane gave Korsak a curious look. He then explained, “Apparently, Dane Thompson got into a loud argument with Josh Finch and the health department official who ordered the restaurant to be closed.”

“Really?” Jane said peering at Frost, “Josh didn’t mention that when we interviewed him.”

The detectives weren’t sure if they would find anything of significance at Tommie-John’s, but Jane wanted to take a look for herself. The restaurant was very similar to Finch’s across the street. It had a family friendly environment with diner booths and red-and-white checkered tablecloths. For being owned and operated by a man with a British heritage it had a very Italian feel to it. Jane wondered why she had never heard of it before, but just like every other big city in the country Boston had dozens of family own restaurants of all sorts.

Jane wandered into the kitchen, peering around. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, she just hoped she would know it when she saw it. The kitchen was spotless, which seemed strange to Jane for some reason. Even though Tommie-John’s had been closed for three days, the detective didn’t imagine that even the best maintained restaurant was kept this clean, especially not one as popular as Tommie-John’s.

Jane peeked out the back door. She immediately put her hand over her face. A rancid smell was coming from the dumpster in the ally. “Hey, Frost! Korsak!” she hollered to her partners as she put on some gloves.

“Good lord!” Frost said as he stepped out the back door. He immediately retreated into the safety of the kitchen, looking sick to his stomach.

“How you ever became a homicide detective I’ll never know.” Korsak said, peering into the dumpster with his nose turned up. “What is all that?”

“That’s everything from the freezer.” Jennifer said with a similarly disgusted look on her face. She had apparently followed the detectives into the kitchen. “The health department forced us to throw everything out, the freezer was faulty.”

“Well this doesn’t look like this weekend’s special.” Jane said pulling a bloody cloth from underneath a rotting pile of, well, something unrecognizable.

“I don’t know how that got there.” Jennifer said, her face growing pale.

“We’re going to have to have those crime scene techs down here to collect some samples as well.” Jane said, stuffing the towel into the evidence bag Frost handed her.

They all moved back into the kitchen. Korsak was calling the department as Jane turned to Miss Johnson. “Who cleaned up here this weekend? Josh?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer said, still looking distressed about what the detective had found outside, “He spent half the night here. Everything had to be thrown out. He insisted on clearing it all out himself.”

“No one helped him?” Jane questioned.

“No,” Jennifer said offhandedly, “Josh doesn’t like to keep the employees late. Besides, it’s not like we could afford to pay the staff with the health department closing us down and forcing us to throw away all of our stock.”

Jane nodded and peered into the freezer. It was empty except for a few mildewed boxes and some melting ice on the walls. She glanced at the thermometer near the door. The device looked like it had been smashed and the digital readout was distorted.

“What happened here?” Jane said, gesturing to the device. “It looks like someone took a hammer to it or something.”

“I don’t know.” Jennifer said with a shrug. “None of us noticed it until the health department showed up on Friday. Josh asked the employees about it, but no one saw anything.”

“And who’s responsible for maintaining the equipment?” Frost questioned.

“You sound like the health department official.” Jennifer objected quietly.

“It’s a simple question.” Jane said firmly. She was starting to get the impression that Jennifer was trying to protect someone.

“It’s Josh, okay. He checks the equipment.” Jennifer relented, “But this wasn’t his fault. That thing has never worked right—With all the mess Gene Finch has been making for us, Daddy just hasn’t been able to afford to fix it!”

_Why am I not surprised_ , Jane thought. Everything came back to the boyfriend. Still, the detective had the sense that something was missing. Jane was about to ask who else had a key to the building when her phone rang. It was Maura.

“Excuse me,” she said to Jennifer as she headed out of the kitchen. “Yeah, Maura, what is it?”

“I think you’ll be interested with the results of Mr. Johnson’s autopsy.” Maura said.

“He didn’t die of food poisoning?” Jane asked with a frown.

“Evidence suggests that he did die of complications due to a Botulism infection,” Maura explained, “but Mr. Johnson was a very unhealthy man. He would only have had a few months to live.”

xxx

Jane met the doctor down in the morgue since the detective had some new evidence for her forensics team to analyze. Besides the bloody cloth, the crime scene techs also found a lot of empty bleach bottles and a pair of blood-stained clothes. Maura, of course, continued to call them “reddish-brown stains,” until a phenolphthalein test proved the presence of blood. She sent samples of the blood out to be tested, as well as hair and fiber samples.

By the time Jane and Maura had time to talk about the new evidence the doctor had discovered from her autopsy, it was nearly seven o’clock.

“Lung cancer.” Maura said, pointing to the blackened, swollen lung tissue.

Jane grimaced. Just because dead bodies didn’t make her sick, like they did her partner, didn’t mean she enjoyed inspecting rotting tissue up close. “Why wasn’t that on his patient file?” Jane said, not really sure what she was looking at, but more than willing to remain ignorant.

“It seems Mr. Johnson had an aversion to those in the health profession.” Maura said, looking at her notes, “He hadn’t visited a doctor in years.”

“From what I can tell he was a life-long smoker,” The doctor continued, “probably several packs a day. Besides his cancer-ridden lungs, he had a severe upper-respiratory infection and gingivitis. If the food poisoning had not killed him, he might not have lasted more than a few months before either the cancer or the infections overwhelmed his immune system.”

Jane’s mind was working, trying to piece all the information together. So far, Josh was looking like their best suspect. He and Jennifer sure had motive, and only each other as alibies. The only thing that remained was to find some sort of forensic evidence. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t come in until at least tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, Jane had a feeling in her gut that there was more to the story than they had yet uncovered. For one, they had not yet been able to contact Gene Finch. He and his daughter Alice were nowhere to be found.

Jane sighed, rubbing her forehead. It had been a long day. So much had happened, not only with this case but also with Maura. On top of all that, she had not eaten anything since that morning.

“You alright?” Maura said, rubbing Jane’s back.

“Yeah…” Jane said closing her eyes, focusing on Maura’s warm hand on the tense muscles of her back. Before she knew what she was doing, she had pulled Maura into a warm hug. She breathed deeply. Jane had missed the way Maura hugged her, so warm, so sincere.

Maura had felt so distant in weeks past. Jane had worried for her. At least now Jane knew why Maura had been so troubled.

Suddenly, Jane’s stomach growled loudly. They both laughed.

“Jane, have you eaten at all today?” Maura said grabbing her coat and purse.

“No.” Jane holding her stomach with a pathetic look on her face. “I’ve been too busy.”

“Jane Rizzoli too busy to eat?” Maura teased, “impossible.”

“You want to get something at the Dirty Robber with me?” Jane invited.

“Jane, are you asking me on a date?” Maura said with a flirtatious grin.

Jane turned only the slightest shade of pink. “Well, uh…” she stumbled. _Why are you blushing like a little schoolgirl?_ She thought to herself frantically. It hadn’t really been her intention to ask Maura out on a date, but she supposed it counted.

She didn’t really know how to respond, so she simply smiled and nodded. _What is it about you that makes me into a helpless fool?_ She thought as Maura beamed at her.

(to be continued)


	7. Dinner and ...?

“Better now?” Maura said with a raised eyebrow and a mocking expression.

“What?” Jane said pushing the empty plate away from her. She took a gulp of beer, “I haven’t eaten all day remember.”

Maura was still finishing her plate, sipping lazily on a glass of red wine. She smiled appreciatively at the detective.

“I missed this.” Maura said.

“What?” Jane smirked, “Greasy bar food?”

“No, just being with you.”

“We work together, Maur; we’re together all the time.”

“No, I mean you and I smiling together, laughing together.” Maura said, placing her hand on Jane’s, “I’ve missed just feeling comfortable around you, feeling at home.”

“I’ve missed that, too.” Jane said gazing into Maura’s hazel eyes.

They were silent for a while, quietly appreciating the moment. Jane fought the urge to pull her hand away. Despite her fear of other’s noticing, she didn’t want to spoil that moment. Maura laced her fingers in Jane’s, smiling from ear to ear.

“Maur?” Jane finally said, her heart pounding, “Where are we going with this?”

“Honestly, Jane,” Maura said, looking her right in her deep brown eyes, “I’m not sure. You are my best friend in the whole world… I don’t want to ever lose that.”

Jane smiled warmly, squeezing her hands gently, “Me either.”

“But,” Maura said, glancing down shyly, then peering up at the detective again, “what I do know is that these feelings I have for you… are not going to go away. I’ve tried for so long to ignore them, to be here for you as just a friend…”

Maura fought to keep her hands steady, grasping tightly to Jane’s. The doctor hated getting so emotional, but she was still so scared. She wanted to trust Jane, but could she risk giving her heart away again? She looked up at her dark haired, brown-eyed friend.

“Maur…” Jane whispered. Seeing Maura fighting back tears made her heart ache. How could she reassure her? How could she be strong for Maura when she was so scared herself? She decided to just go with what her gut was telling her.

“Maura it’s taken me this long to realize it, but you’re all I have ever wanted. I just wish I could have put it together sooner. I’ve been wasting so much time fighting my feelings for you while you’ve been silently struggling.” Jane said while she played with Maura’s hands nervously. “I just wish I could have been there for you.”

“You were there for me.” Maura said firmly. “Even when I couldn’t tell you what was wrong, you were just there, no questions asked.”

“It killed me seeing you like that.” Jane said, remembering how her heart had ached as Maura lied in her arms, quietly crying. It ached even more now, knowing she had been the source of that pain.

Maura suddenly released Jane’s hands, wiping her eyes. She smiled, her eyes sparkling, “It doesn’t have to be like that anymore.”

They paid the tab shortly after that, leaving the bar all smiles and giggles. Jane’s stomach was awhirl with butterflies. Everything felt amazing and new. When Maura slipped her hand into hers, she couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.

To Maura, holding Jane’s hand as they walked in the Boston evening air was like floating on cloud nine. The way that Jane grasped her hand so possessively yet lovingly, it made Maura want to kiss her. Instead, she peered up at Jane, wondering what she was thinking.

Jane’s smile had disappeared. She had started to notice the passersby. Even in the dim light of the streetlights the detective had noticed several glances. Jane couldn’t help but become tense, not out of fear of judgment, but out of an overflow of consciousness.

She was walking down the street holding her best friend’s hand. Unlike before, it was not merely a gesture of friendship, but one of intimacy. The feel of Maura next to her, the feel of her hand in hers, it made her heart race, made it difficult to breathe.

_You can do this Jane,_ she thought to herself, inhaling deeply.

Suddenly, the doctor stopped in her tracks, causing Jane’s arm to snag back in Maura’s grip. Jane looked at Maura incredulously. She had just started to relax. Now Maura was clearly upset with her again.

“What’s wrong?” Maura inquired, a startled look on her face. She had not intended to stop so suddenly, but the uncomfortable look on Jane’s face had worried her.

“Nothing.” Jane said, pleadingly.

“Why do you care so much what they think?” Maura said gesturing to a couple walking by.

“I don’t!” Jane said loudly. Why couldn’t Maura understand?

“First, you freak out whenever I touch you in public—when I even look at you in front of your mother—and now, you are freaking out just holding my hand. What are you so scared of?” Maura said frowning at her.

“Maura, I don’t care what they think,” she said frowning back, “or what my mother thinks for that matter! Yes, I’m nervous, but not because of what Joe-smoe on the street thinks!”

“Why then?”

Jane ran her hand through her hair with frustration; there were so many reasons. “Because this is all so new to me. Because you are my best friend. Because… I’m head over heels for you…”

Maura couldn’t help it; she kissed Jane right then and there. It started soft, but as soon as Jane felt Maura’s lips on hers, she felt that magnetism drawing her nearer. Her hands slipped around Maura’s waist to the small of her back, pulling the honey blond closer. As the kiss grew more impassioned, Maura reached over Jane’s shoulders, moving her hands into Jane’s dark hair.

The doctor’s heart raced wildly. For a moment there was nothing but the taste of Jane’s lips, the feel of their tongues touching, the smell of Jane’s hair, and the sound of Jane’s contented whimper. Then, slowly, very reluctantly, they broke the kiss.

Jane looked into Maura’s hazel eyes breathlessly. Maura stared up at her, smiling widely. All the detective could think about was kissing her again. She had never wanted anything more in her life.

“Dykes.” A passing teenage boy chuckled to his friend, as they peered at the two women.

“Jane.” Maura said grasping the seething detective by the arm. “Just ignore them. They are just a couple of adolescents.”

“I know!” Jane said between grinding teeth, watching the boys as they picked up their pace but still kept peering back at Jane and Maura. She turned back to Maura with an exasperated expression on her face, “Sometimes I wish I could arrest people just for being ignorant fucks.”

“That wouldn’t help anything.” Maura said, frowning in disapproval at Jane’s language. “Besides, you don’t care what they think.”

“Of course, I don’t,” Jane said watching the boys menacingly as they turned the corner. “But I’ll be damned if I let anyone call my girlfriend a dyke like that.”

Maura’s heart leapt in her chest. Jane turned around to find Maura looking at her with delighted amazement. Jane frowned at her, wandering what Maura’s excitement was all about.

“What?” Jane said with an amused smile.

“You called me your girlfriend.” Maura said wrapping her arms around Jane’s waist and looking up at her admiringly. 

“I guess I did.” Jane said with a shrug and a smirk.

It wasn’t long before they reached where Maura had parked her car. Jane didn’t want to part ways, but they would inevitably have a very long day tomorrow. Jane and the other detectives still had to find and interview Gene Finch and would probably have to bring Josh back in for questioning.

Maura still had to finish up her reports for the Thompson’s autopsies. After all that, the doctor was supposed to meet with health department officials to discuss ways to contain the current outbreak. Maura had a feeling that more _Botulinum_ infections would turn up considering she had not yet figured out how the Thompson’s had gotten infected in the first place.

Maura stood at her car, lost in thought. Then the doctor noticed Jane watching her the way the detective sometimes did, with a little smile peeking from the corner of her mouth and her dark brown eyes flickering over the features of her face. They both sighed softly, almost simultaneously, and smiled. They knew they had to say goodnight, but neither wanted to.

Saying nothing, Jane wrapped her arms around Maura in a hug. She took a deep, appreciative breath. _This is where Maura belongs,_ she thought. Maura pulled her closer, burying her face in Jane’s shoulder. They lingered there.

Jane felt her heart pounding again. She felt attached to Maura by that magnetism again, the doctor’s warm body against hers, the sweet smell of her perfume, the tickle of her breath against her neck.

Maura tried to hold herself back, but the urge to taste Jane’s skin was overpowering. Lightly she placed a kiss on the flesh of her neck. Jane groaned softly, wondering how Maura had tuned into that very spot that made her shiver. The brunette tried to step back, but she couldn’t will her body to move. Maura moved her lips teasingly slowly up the muscles of Jane’s neck to her jawline.

“Maur,” Jane mumbled.

The doctor wasn’t sure what had overcome her but somewhere between Jane’s body against hers, and the smell of her skin and her hair, the way her strong hands had slipped around her back, Maura had not been able to stop herself from placing hungry kisses up Jane’s neck. She was only vaguely aware that they were still standing at her car, only a block from the police station. Somewhere deep beneath the desire to reach her hands up Jane’s shirt, she knew that she should slow down, take a moment to breathe.

Finally, her lips met Jane’s, a hot passionate kiss filled with all the frustrations of months of denial. Jane could feel her body trying to take control, trying to stifle the busy flood of thoughts rushing through her brain. _Maura!_ she thought frantically. _We should slow down—No! Yes. Wait? Not here._

But it was Maura that broke the kiss. She looked up at Jane breathlessly, her face flushed, her hazel eyes sparkling zealously. She heaved a sigh, stepping back, glancing up into Jane’s heavy-lidded eyes. Maura bit her lip, trying and failing not to peer at Jane’s sweet lips.

“Goodnight, Jane.” Maura whispered before turning and climbing into her car.

Jane watched her leave as if frozen in place. She hadn’t even been able to respond with anything more than a mumble. Finally, when Maura’s taillights disappeared into traffic, she felt her muscle control returning. Jane ran her hands over her face and into her dark hair. She had never been so turned on by a kiss in her entire life.

(to be continued)


	8. The Investigation, continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains mostly investigation stuff, so I'm uploading another chapter shortly.

"Good morning." Jane said setting her coffee down on her desk and sitting down.

Frost spun around in his chair and blinked at the beaming detective. "Good morning?" he said squinting at her suspiciously, "You're here early."

"I am?" Jane said frowning at her watch. She was nearly a half an hour early. Jane shrugged passively, "I guess I am."

"You feeling okay?" Frost said watching her as she smiled over the case file she was pretending to read.

The muscles of her face suddenly tensed. She tried to appear serious. A grin spread across her face of its own accord. "Of course, I'm feeling okay." Jane said flipping through the paperwork. "What are you talking about?"

"Jane!" Korsak said looking rather surprised to find the detective sitting there at her desk. His eyes scanned over her quickly, "What's with the look?"

Jane frowned up at her partners, both of them staring at her curiously. "What look?"

"I don't know." Korsak said with an offhanded shrug, "You just seem…happy."

"Is that not allowed all of a sudden?" Jane said mockingly, as she busied herself checking her messages.

"What happened last night?" Frost said a suspicious tone. Jane saw from the corner of her eye that he was watching her with a smartass grin on his face. "You ah… you know?"

Jane looked at him incredulously. Was he asking what she thought he was asking? She and Frost were close, but Jane was not the type to talk about her sex life with anyone—no less her partner. Surely, she needed to work better on her poker face if these guys were already asking her questions. Rather than address the issue, however, she changed the subject as she hung up the phone at her desk.

"We've got a lead." Jane said, scribbling an address down on a notepad.

"A lead on what?" Korsak asked curiously, after he had hit Frost reprovingly in the shoulder. Despite the sergeant's obvious curiosity with Jane's behavior, he respected her privacy. Jane appreciated that.

"Turns out Gene Finch was admitted to Boston Memorial yesterday." Jane said picking up her badge and keys.

"Really?" Frost said rubbing his shoulder where Korsak had hit him, more out of annoyance than pain, "Any idea why?"

"Apparently," Jane told Korsak and Frost as they headed for the elevator, "he was admitted to the psych ward after he had some sort of fit."

xxx

Maura had a lot of work to do that morning despite the fact that she found it nearly impossible to concentrate. She had arrived at work almost five minutes late, something she had never done in her life. And though she stressed over it for some time afterwards, no one seemed to notice. She tried to convince herself that it was the traffic she had gotten caught up in when, in fact, it was because she got a late start.

Maura had woken up at her usual six am but had struggled to concentrate during her early morning yoga. Her morning shower had not been as relaxing as it normally was. Maura found that her mind wandered back to last night, replaying that hungry kiss over and over. By the time she had finished showering and getting ready, the doctor had only twenty minutes to get to the police station.

In the end, though, Maura was glad she was forced to hurry down to the morgue. If she had come in early, she might have ended up coming up to visit the detective. And while she wanted to see Jane more than anything, she needed to focus on this case until it was solved. _I need to remain professional,_ Maura thought to herself as she took another look at the cadavers, _just because Jane and I are involved now, doesn't mean I can just ignore my work._

And for the most part she was able to focus. The morgue and her office provided an environment much more conducive to calculated thought. She fit well into her routine, into the structure and logic of her job. The doctor found a strange sense of calm from being in the cool, brightly lit basement of the BPD.

Maura did, however, find herself feeling lonely when lunchtime came around. The whole morning had passed and still there was no word from Jane. She glanced at her cell. No calls, no messages. That was strange, usually Jane checked in with her by now. She wondered what the detective might be up to.

The doctor picked up her phone and stared at it for a while. Was Jane avoiding her? Surely not, Maura was just being silly. The detective was simply busy. Maura just wished she had gathered some new information. Maybe then she would have an excuse to call Jane. She hadn't even met with the health department official yet.

"Oh shoot!" Maura said suddenly, looking at her watch. The meeting with the health department official was in ten minutes. She had totally forgotten.

Xxx

"Alice Finch?" Jane said, reaching her hand out to the thirty-something blond woman. "I'm Detective Rizzoli and these are my partners Detective Frost and Sergeant Korsak."

The two men each nodded at Alice warmly and shook her hand in turn. Gene Finch's eldest daughter was standing near her father's hospital bed. She looked tired and disheveled. Her clothes were wrinkled and there were dark circles under her eyes.

"Mandy said you've been looking for my father." Alice said, peering sorrowfully down at the unconscious man. She held his hand gently, even though his arms were strapped to the bed.

"Yes." Jane said, "We were hoping to ask him about what happened to Tom Johnson and Dane and Mary Thompson."

"Yeah," Alice said nodding solemnly, "I heard there was an outbreak at Mr. Johnson's restaurant. It's unfortunate."

"We have reason to believe that they may have been deliberately poisoned." Frost said, watching Alice's reaction closely.

Alice frowned and gazed back down at her father. "What does that have to do with my father?"

"Do you know where he was Thursday morning?" Jane said taking notice of Alice's tone of voice, she seemed honest in her confusion.

"No," the blond said, her eyes becoming teary, "he said he was going to the restaurant. I dropped him off on my way to a business trip. He was supposed to stay with Josh while I was gone. But when I got back on Saturday, he was… having some sort of episode."

She continued to explain when the detectives looked at her questioningly. "My father is suffering from early onset Alzheimer's. For the most part he's functional, but sometimes he forgets where he is, who Mandy and Josh and I are.

"When Josh dropped him off, he was hysterical. He kept going on about how Josh shouldn't interfere with his business. How Josh was no kin of his if he worked at that 'slimy, pest-ridden excuse for a family restaurant.'"

"So, your father didn't like Josh working at Tommie-John's?" Frost said, looking down at the middle-aged man in the hospital bed.

"No," she said shaking her head, "he and Josh have not gotten along well since he started dating Jennifer."

"And before that?" Jane asked, thinking back to how Josh had indicated that the two of them never got along. She was only slightly surprised to hear that yet another part of his story was false.

"Josh was like a son to him." Alice said with a soft smile, "He was like our adopted brother. His parents were very … emotionally abusive. Dad wanted to adopt him back when he was middle school, but Uncle Fredrick refused to give up custody. Instead, Josh spent most of his time with Mandy and my parents."

Jane looked at Frost. Her partner looked similarly perturbed. Korsak had excused himself. He was already on the phone telling some uniforms to head over to Josh Finch's apartment to bring him in to the BPD. The detectives thanked Alice for her time and excused themselves to discuss what she had said.

"What's with all these smoke and mirrors Josh has been giving us?" Frost said to Jane.

"I don't know," Jane said looking at her cell, "but until Maura gives us some sort of forensic evidence, all we have is circumstantial."

The detective was checking yet again to see if the doctor had texted her with any updates. Apparently, yesterday's preliminary autopsies had not given Maura any specific information on how the Thompsons had died. From the evidence collected at the scene it seemed that they had consumed several items that had been in the health department's citations at Tommie-Johns. Jane assumed it was possible that they had simply consumed leftovers that had made them sick, but that scenario didn't fit too well into the timeline of events.

They headed back to the station to meet up with Frankie, who had managed to get the job of bringing in Josh Finch. When Jane and Frost got to the interrogation room, Frankie was standing outside looking rather annoyed.

"What's up with you?" Jane prodded at her brother playfully.

"I could ask you the same." He said, noticing Jane checking her phone anxiously. He nodded her cell as she frowned at the blank screen disappointedly, "Waiting for a text from the new boyfriend?"

"I do not have a boyfriend." Jane said through gritted teeth, peering at Frost from the corner of her eye. She wondered what rumors could possibly be going around now. Why did everyone insist on speculating about her love life?

"You've been acting weird, that's all." Frankie said with a shrug, watching her closely. "Just figured."

"What are you talking about?" Jane said looking at him with wide incredulous eyes.

"This morning, you walked right past me with a huge, dreamy smile on your face." Frankie said. "You didn't even notice me—no less handout your usual morning insult."

"Why is everyone freaking out about me being in a good mood?" Jane said exasperatedly.

"I don't know." Frankie said with a shrug, he looked even more suspicious of her behavior now. "It's just different."

Jane decided to change the topic. "How's our suspect doing?" she said glancing at Josh Finch through the small window in the door.

"He's asked for a lawyer," Frankie said, his annoyed tone returning, "and he isn't exactly happy to be here."

Xxx

Maura's meeting with the health department official was, to say the least, informative. It turned out that the official, Mr. La Fountain, had visited Tommie-Johns four times in the past three months. Two times he had done so reluctantly, only giving in under pressure from his department to ease the unrest coming from the local community, members of which were protesting outside the restaurant. Except for the last visit, Mr. La Fountain had found no major violations.

"All of sudden," he had told her, "there was failing equipment, missing food-safety paperwork, signs of pest infestations, and food samples testing positive for a wide range of bacteria and pathogens."

The health inspector gave Maura a lot more curious information. For example, the samples the doctor had sent her from the crime scene where the Thompson's bodies were found contained completely different strains of _Clostridium botulinum_ , meaning that though they came from similar food types, they had to have come from different food sources, probably from different restaurant or supplier.

In addition, it seemed that the infection that had killed Tom Johnson had been contained. The other customers who had complained of symptoms had been confirmed to be free of any food-borne illnesses, and the suspected source, a baked potato dish, had been disposed of properly by the time the inspector had finished his investigation and closed the restaurant. The Thompson's, from what he could tell from evidence Maura's team had provided him with, were most likely infected from consuming another dish entirely.

But the real twist occurred when Maura returned to her office. The doctor had just sat down at her desk to compile her notes from her conversation with the Mr. La Fountain when an assistant knocked on her door. The young woman handed her the lab reports for the blood samples Maura had prepared the day before. She thanked the assistant with a smile and skimmed the paperwork. Her eyes had barely scanned half of the first page before a deeply troubled frown spread across her face. Maura immediately picked up her phone to call the detectives.

Xxx

"So why did you lie to us, Josh?" Jane said sitting across from the blue-eyed, brown haired young man. In contrast to the athletic wear he had worn the day before, today Josh wore a dark blue business suit and a deep red tie. As he leaned forward, he loosened his tie uncomfortably, looking at the brunette detective with agitation.

"I told you guys I want a lawyer." The young Mr. Finch said, now eyeing Jane's partner, who stood studying him carefully.

"And one is on her way right at this moment." Frost stated in a seemingly annoyed tone.

"We just want to clear some things up, Mr. Finch." Jane said, remaining courteous. She didn't normally play the "nice cop," so-to-speak, but unlike her partner, she was not entirely convinced the story was as simple as it appeared to be. Josh was definitely hiding something, but in her gut she felt like maybe he was protecting someone.

She wasn't sure where she was getting the feeling from, but her gut had not led her astray before. So, she decided to follow it. Jane just had to figure out which approach would make Josh open up.

After several minutes of silence in which Josh did not respond to the detectives' comments with little more than an agitated expression, Frost spoke. "You know, it can take those state appointed lawyers a long time to show up. Why don't you just save us all a lot of time and just answer Detective Rizzoli's question? Why did you lie to us about your relationship with your uncle?"

"I didn't lie!" Josh responded angrily.

"You told us you didn't get along with Gene." Jane said, "Your cousins said he was like a father to you. Now why would they say that?"

"I only said my father didn't like Gene." Josh said fiercely.

Jane was quiet for a moment, considering Josh's possible motives for skirting the truth about his alliance with his uncle. Jennifer had been there when he spoke of his father and uncle not getting along. She had also been in the interrogation room when the detectives had questioned him further.

"Why don't you want Jennifer to know about how close you are to your uncle?" Jane said, squinting at him pensively.

Josh looked slightly taken aback, as if he did not expect for Jane to be able to figure that out. He looked down at his hands for a moment, and then said, "Jenny really doesn't like my family."

"She feels like they are trying to sabotage her father's business?" Frost suggested.

Again, Josh was silent. He peered up at Jane briefly. "She blames my whole family, Uncle Gene, Alice, Mandy—all of them. She says they are behind all of the troubles that Tommie-John's has been having since we started dating."

"Are they?" Frost asked.

"Alice and Mandy would never—" Josh started heatedly.

"Excuse me!" came a voice from behind them. "But I believe my client asked for a lawyer.”

A tall, thin redheaded woman in a cream-colored business suit had just barged into the interrogation room. Her green eyes flared with indignation. The two detectives simply stared as the young attorney took a seat next to her client.

Jane noted that the lawyer, who introduced herself as Danielle Simmons, seemed very young and attractive to be a public defender—not that young and attractive women were not public defenders, just that her demeanor did not reflect the attitude of an attorney defending on the state's dime.

Detective Rizzoli noted the way that Josh greeted the auburn-haired woman. At first, he seemed shocked to see her. Then, it was confirmed they knew each other when he greeted her as Danielle. Noting the way Miss Simmons peered around the interrogation room with slight misgivings, Jane suddenly realized how Mr. Finch could afford such an ostentatious lawyer.

"You are not a criminal defender, are you?" Jane said with a confident smile. This woman was definitely out of her element, and Jane could take advantage of that.

"I am more than capable of defending Mr. Finch, here." Danielle said, placing a stylish briefcase on the table in front of her.

Even without answering the detective's question directly she had given Jane her answer. Jane studied her carefully. Miss Simmons was a business lawyer. Jane figured she was probably a friend of the family.

"You represent the Finch's business, don't you?" Jane questioned.

"No," Danielle said, looking at the detective menacingly, "I represent the Johnson's. I was informed that our Restaurant Manager and primary shareowner had been arrested. Now, Detective, if you don't mind, I'd like to get to the point. What are the charges?"

"The murders of Tom Johnson, and Dane and Mary Thompson." Jane said shortly. She was liking this lady less and less.

"Ridiculous," Danielle said simply, "Tom Johnson died of food poisoning. As for the Thompson's, I see no proof that you have any forensic evidence tying my client to their deaths."

"No," Frost said, leaning over the table and staring at them fiercely, "but we have motive, means and opportunity. Getting forensic evidence will only be a matter of time."

Jane was quiet as she studied the lawyer. This woman was more intelligent than the detective had originally anticipated. She was confident, too—not in a cocky way, either. Miss Simmons had obviously done her homework. Jane had a feeling this interrogation was going to end very soon.

"In that case," Danielle said, nodding at Josh reassuringly, "I will have my client released before the end of the day."

Jane seriously doubted that, she knew Maura would come through for her like she always did. Until, then, however, the detectives would have to do their best with what they had. Unfortunately, that wasn't much.

The detective looked at Josh Finch again. He seemed more confident, even smug. Perhaps, he thought he would be able to get off without having to explain any of his inconsistencies.

"If you had nothing to do with the Thompson's murders, why were you seen arguing with Dane Thompson outside Tommie-Johns the other day?" Jane said leaning forward assuredly.

Josh looked at his lawyer. She nodded, so he answered, "He was making accusations about me and my uncle. I got a little angry, I admit, but that was it."

"What kind of accusations was Mr. Thompson making?" Frost inquired.

The young man glanced at his lawyer again. But when she nodded, he stiffened up. He sat back in his chair determinedly. "I'm not saying anything else."

Jane frowned pensively at him. Who was he protecting? He certainly wasn't acting in his own best interest.

"Josh," Danielle said, "you should really just answer the detectives' questions."

"No." Josh said crossing his arms across his chest, "I'm not saying another word."

Just then, Jane's phone rang.

[to be continued]


	9. The Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quick update, as promised.

Jane politely excused herself from the interrogation room. It was lucky that she was alone in the hallway when she answered the phone. The detective was practically giddy at the sight of Maura’s name on the screen. She was completely unable to control how incredibly thrilled she sounded when she greeted the doctor.

“Hey,” Jane smiled, “what’s up?”

Maura did not return her friendly demeanor, instead she sounded very serious when she said, “I got the blood work back.”

“Yeah?” Jane said, straightening her composure. Why did Maura’s utter solemnity sting so much? Jane wondered to herself. She tried to keep in mind that Maura was a professional; they both were. Jane reminded herself that they were at work.

“You and Barry should probably come down here.” Maura said.

“We’ll be down in a minute.” Jane said. “Not much we can do up here, Josh Finch has clammed up.”

“Well, then,” Maura said, a smile in her voice, “you will appreciate what I’ve discovered.”

Jane smiled admiringly. She knew that tone. Maura had just found a crucial piece of the puzzle, and the smile in her voice was a triumphant one.; Jane could imagine Maura shrugging her shoulder in that ‘oh-it-was-nothing’ kind of way that Maura did whenever she did something absolutely genius. Suddenly, the detective wished she could just kiss the doctor for being so adorable.

“Jane?” Maura said after the detective had been silent for a while.

“Yeah, sorry.” Jane said, realizing her mind had wandered off without her.

This time Maura was quiet. She had been waiting all day to talk to Jane, but now that she was, she didn’t have any idea what to say. The doctor had never wanted a case to be over more than she did now. She opened her mouth to say something, desperately wanting to end the awkward silence, but Jane interrupted her.

“Frost, Korsak and I will be down there as soon as we wrap it up here.” Jane said quickly. She hung up without another word, cursing herself for being so weird. If she couldn’t handle the day-to-day business now, what was she going to do when things got really serious? And there was one thing Jane was sure of: when it came to Maura, things were going to get _really_ serious.

Later, down in Maura’s office, Jane avoided the doctor’s eyes, and stood at the far end of the room. She did not address Maura except to give her a brief, shy smile. So, it was Korsak that asked the obvious question.

“What did you find?” he said, taking the lab reports from Maura’s hand.

Maura spoke to Frost and Korsak but kept glancing curiously at Jane. She seemed nervous and edgy and would not look Maura in the eye. The detective also stood strangely distant from her. Normally, Jane closed the distance between them eagerly, even made excuses to touch her briefly.

Korsak answered his own question as he read the blood analysis report. He looked up at Maura curiously, “The Thompsons were both exposed to more than half a dozen foodborne pathogens?”

Maura grabbed some more files off her desk and explained “If you look at the test results from the food found at the crime scene and in their home, almost everything was contaminated with foodborne pathogens: _Bacillus cereus_ , _Listeria monocytogene, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium botulinum,_ Norovirus, _Cryptosporidium parvum..._ ”

The three detectives looked as if their heads were spinning. None of them seemed to understand the significance of what the doctor was trying to tell them. She looked amongst them with frustration, wondering how she could make it any clearer.

Then, suddenly, Jane spoke for the first time since entering Maura’s office. “So, they were exposed to whole ton of pathogens,” she said with a thoughtful frown. “I’m guessing all these different kinds of foodborne illnesses didn’t just _happen_ to grow in _everything_ the Thompson’s ate.”

“No.” Maura said with an appreciative nod; Jane seemed to be catching on. “The chances of that are…well let’s just say I’m willing to conclude that the Thompson’s were purposefully infected.”

“But why would Josh kill the Thompson’s?” Korsak questioned.

“I don’t know,” Maura said, handing the sergeant another piece of paper, “but you can probably rule him out as Mr. Johnson’s killer.”

“What?” all three detectives said at once.

Korsak peered down at the paper Maura had handed him. On it was a DNA analysis report. The doctor pointed to the comparison between Josh Finch’s DNA and that found on the bloody towel from Tommie-John’s.

“You have a close match, but not quite.” Maura said, “Whoever’s blood is on that towel is a male-blood relative, most likely his nephew or uncle.”

“Gene Finch!” Jane said suddenly.

“I would need a blood sample from him before I could confirm that,” Maura said, watching as Jane’s mind began to reel, “but there was something that Mr. La Fountain said that you might be interested to hear.”

“La Fountain?” Jane said, squinting at her curiously.

“The health department official. I spoke to him earlier today. He said he was there when Dane Thompson and Josh Finch got into an argument about closing the restaurant down.” Maura explained.

“Yeah,” Jane said, “Josh didn’t seem too keen on explaining what that was all about.”

“Apparently,” Maura said with a curious expression, “Mr. Thompson accused Gene Finch of killing Tom Johnson. According to Mr. La Fountain, Dane claimed that he had seen the two of them fighting. Dane said that Gene had left the restaurant Wednesday night bleeding.”

“Really?” Jane said with a raised eyebrow and a curious expression. The brunette detective looked to her partner and the sergeant questioningly.

“Do you really think Gene Finch is capable of this?” Frost said frowning at Jane.

“Just because he has Alzheimer’s doesn’t mean he can’t hurt anyone.” Jane said frowning at Frost’s seeming naiveté.

“Actually,” Maura interjected, “those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s are more than capable of uncharacteristic violent outbursts.”

Jane smiled and peered at the doctor out of the corner of her eye. Occasionally, Maura’s Google-mouth was helpful rather than annoying. This time the detective had even found it kind of cute. But she quickly shook those thoughts from her mind as she felt Maura’s eyes on her, the detective needed to focus on the case.

“Is he capable of such an elaborate plan, though?” Korsak said frowning pensively.

“Most likely not.” Maura said, answering the question that had not necessarily been aimed at her. She turned to Korsak. “I’ve been looking over the patient files you sent me Vincent,” she said, peering over her laptop. “It seems that Mr. Finch’s Alzheimer’s is progressing rapidly. He’s been admitted to Boston Memorial several times in the past couple months. If he’s been planning anything, he can’t have been doing it on his own.”

“Or perhaps he has had someone cleaning up after him.” Jane said suddenly.

Korsak, Frost and Maura looked at her curiously. The detective had an excited look on her face. All the pieces were starting to fit together. She wished she could explain to her startled co-workers, but her mind was racing at a mile-a-minute.

“Korsak,” she said interrupting the stunned silence, “We need to get more information on John Thompson’s will. Frost, get a uniform on Gene Finch, we’re going to need him in custody as soon as he’s recovered.”

“In custody?” Frost said with a questioning look. “You really think he’s dangerous?”

“No.” Jane said as she used the phone on Maura’s desk to call upstairs. “But I think the Finch’s have been hiding him for a reason.”

“What about you?” Korsak and Frost said almost simultaneously.

Jane spoke calmly with the clerk upstairs, and then slammed the phone onto the receiver. “Damn! He’s been released.” Jane said with an agitated look.

“What?!” the three others said in simultaneous exasperation.

“Maura,” Jane said turning to the medical examiner with a stone-cold serious look on her face, “we need something—some forensic evidence tying Josh to the Thompson’s murders.”

“What are you thinking, Jane?” Korsak said frowning at her inquisitively.

“It doesn’t matter what I think if we have nothing to hold him with.” Jane said with her brow furrowed. Her mind was still abuzz with all the possibilities. If only she could get Josh to talk, she knew she could get what she needed to prove the wild theories tossing around in her brain. But with that lawyer around and nothing to leverage a confession, she had little hope of proving anything.

Korsak and Frost headed upstairs, leaving Jane to explain herself later. Maura stood there watching her with a confused frown on her face. She watched the detective closely, wishing that she knew what was going on inside Jane’s mind. Suddenly, Jane turned and looked at Maura.

“Can you go over the evidence again?” she said with a distant, pensive look on her face. “There has to be something.”

“Sure, but Jane…?” Maura said cautiously. She found herself wondering about Jane’s earlier behavior, even though Maura had told herself now was not the time or place. “…are we okay?”

“Of course, we’re okay.” Jane said, her voice suddenly softening. She placed a hand delicately on Maura’s arm in an instinctive, comforting gesture. Jane became suddenly aware of the short distance between them and felt her heart racing, her face flushing. She removed her hand quickly and tried not to look as uncomfortable as she felt.

Maura squinted at her suspiciously. She was not accustomed to Jane’s shy behavior. Perhaps the detective was starting to have doubts again. Maura suddenly wondered how she could have thought that being in a romantic relationship with Jane wouldn’t have to affect their working relationship.

“Have you been avoiding me?” Maura said in a tentative tone.

“No!” Jane insisted. She peered at Maura out of the corner of her eye, and then sighed. “Okay, maybe a little bit.”

“Why?” Maura said, sounding a little hurt. “You don’t want to take it all back, do you?”

“Of course not!” Jane said, grasping Maura by the hands with a pleading look on her face.

Maura frowned at the detective. This was one moment where the doctor wished she wasn’t so socially inept. “If you don’t regret changing the nature of our relationship, why have you been avoiding me?”

“Maur, I’m sorry.” She said running her hands up and down Maura’s arms soothingly. “I didn’t mean to, I just—I don’t know how—there’s just so much we haven’t talked about yet.”

Jane removed her hands from Maura with a frustrated sigh. She started to scratch her head anxiously. The detective knew they would have to talk about how all this was going to work eventually. She had just hoped they would make it until they were off-duty. She knew that Maura liked to remain professional while at work, and for Jane’s sake she hoped they could keep the whole thing on the down low until she could at least talk to her mother. Oh god, she did not want to think about _that_ nightmare—

“What do we need to talk about?” Maura said frowning at her bewilderedly.

“You know…” Jane said making awkward, confused gestures.

Maura simply stared at her with a furrowed brow. Jane was acting strange and the doctor just wished she would tell her why.

“You know…” Jane repeated glancing at Maura awkwardly, “… the rules.”

“The rules?”

“For working together.”

“I’m not following you.”

Jane buried her face in her hands, letting out an exasperated sigh. She was going to have to spell this out for Maura. She wasn’t sure she was up for that right now, or ever.

“Look Maura,” Jane said after a moment to collect herself, “we have to work together.”

“Yes.” Maura said with a smile and a nod.

“But now that things between us are…” she looked up at Maura. This was a bad idea because the doctor suddenly seemed so temptingly kissable. Jane looked down at her hands, which she had unconsciously interlocked with Maura’s. “…different…”

“Now that we are pursuing a romantic relationship?” Maura encouraged in a dishearteningly blatant manner.

Jane tried not to lose her nerve. “Yes,” she said looking up into those perfect hazel eyes, “now I don’t know how to act around you anymore.”

“Jane, you don’t have to act any different.” Maura said smiling up at her brightly.

“I know…” Jane said, her eyes wandering to Maura’s lips. “…but whenever I’m around you now I just can’t stop thinking about…”

“That kiss?” Maura said with a suggestive lift of her eyebrow. She had meant to leave Jane thinking about her last night, but she had not intended for it to be so distracting. And distracting it had been. Whenever Maura had had a spare moment, her mind had wandered to the taste of Jane’s skin, the feel of her warm body against her, the sound of Jane’s soft sighs.

Suddenly, the two of them realized they were inches apart. Jane’s hands had slipped around Maura’s waist, Maura’s had slipped up Jane’s shoulders and behind her neck. The doctor licked her lips and smiled up at Jane teasingly. Then Maura’s smile disappeared, and she looked rather serious, despite still holding Jane close.

“So, no tongue. No removing of clothes. No public displays of affection—" Maura was interrupted by a shocked Jane stepping away.

“What?” Jane said frowning at her in astonishment.

“The rules.” Maura said with a shrug, as if it were obvious. “You said we needed to talk about the rules for our behavior in the workplace.”

Jane ran her hands over her face with exasperation. She didn’t think she could ever get used to Maura’s forwardness. Then again, that was what she found so refreshing about the medical examiner.

“No public displays of affection?” Jane said squinting at her incredulously.

“I mean no more than usual.” Maura said shrugging casually.

“What if I want to kiss you?” Jane asked, her voice sounding far more disappointed than she had intended.

“Do you want to?” Maura teased with a raise of her eyebrow.

“It’s crossed my mind,” Jane said noting how incredibly sexy Maura looked in that white coat.

“Well that’s what the no tongue rule is for.” Maura said with a seductive smile.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Jane said, thinking about all the things she could do to the doctor without even using her tongue.

“Perhaps not.” Maura said, blushing. She had been having similar thoughts about how quickly a kiss could lead to disaster.

“We’ll have to finish this discussion later.” Jane said peeling her eyes away from the doctor and glancing at her watch. It was getting late and they needed to wrap things up for the day. “Meanwhile, take another look at the evidence, okay?”

As Jane turned to leave, Maura had an adorably disappointed look on her face that she was trying desperately to hide. She was unable to contain a soft, pouty sigh.

“Damn it,” the detective swore under her breath. She spun around, pressing her lips firmly against Maura’s. Shocked, Maura could find no place for her hands. By the time her mind had caught up with what was happening, Jane was pulling away. Maura opened her eyes to see a wide grin on Jane’s face.

The detective turned and left without another word. Maura didn’t mind, though, because that look clearly told her ‘I’ll be back later.’

[to be continued]


	10. Seriously, Everyone Knows

Jane had returned to Maura’s office at the end of the day. Unfortunately, it had been a short and uneventful meeting. The doctor had been unable to uncover any more evidence or any clues as to where to proceed. Jane had spent her afternoon talking to witnesses over the phone.

By the time she made it down to the basement she had hoped that at least she could find some solace in the quiet of the morgue. However, the doctor and the detective had barely been speaking five minutes when Frost and Korsak stepped into Maura’s office.

“Find anything, Dr. Isles?” Korsak said in a friendly tone.

Maura simply shook her head. She had just been explaining to Jane how she had gone over every bit of evidence a second time—despite already being confident in the thoroughness of her work.

Jane let out an exasperated sigh and forced a smile when she turned to greet her partners.

“Don’t worry, Jane.” Frost said with a nod. “We’ll find what we need to nail this guy.”

“Thanks, Frost.” Jane said quietly. Yet again, Frost’s timing was impeccable. Despite what the two men believed, her agitation came not from the case but from the sudden recollection of why the two were looking for her. She had promised to go out for a couple drinks that night. Actually, she had promised them a couple weeks ago, but had kept pushing it off ever since all this stuff with Maura had started. Despite how much she wanted to talk everything over with Maura, she had a feeling she was not getting out of a night out with the guys again.

“So, the Dirty Robber?” Korsak asked warmly.

“Yeah, Rizzoli, you owe me a drink,” Frost said with a smile.

“You’re not getting out of it this time,” Korsak said, handing Jane her jacket.

Jane looked desperately at Maura to rescue her, but she shook her head, “Don’t worry about me, Jane. I have some stuff to finish up and then I need to turn in early. I’ve got a lot of lab reports to work through tomorrow.”

Jane smiled at Maura, squeezing her hand warmly, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Maura nodded, “Goodnight, Jane…Barry, Vincent.”

xxx

“Is Maura okay?” Frost asked as they exited the elevator upstairs.

“What do you mean?” Jane said, frowning at him.

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug, “the two of you have just been acting strange lately.”

Jane studied Frost carefully, trying to ignore the nervous knots in her stomach. She really hoped this night wasn’t going to turn into an interrogation. She didn’t need them poking at this issue right now, not before her and Maura had a chance to really talk.

She glanced quickly at Korsak. He seemed uninterested, but Jane had an inkling that he knew more than he was letting on. The sergeant knew how to respect Jane’s space, simply from experience.

Jane simply said, “Everything is fine.”

Frost opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Korsak’s elbow in his side. The elevator doors opened, and there was no more talk of the issue.

xxx

The next morning Maura arrived at her office early, as planned. She went over her work one final time and prepared for the release of Mr. Johnson’s body. Normally, she had perfect confidence in her ability to do a thorough investigation the first time, but the lack of evidence in this case was leaving her slightly perturbed. Unless Josh Finch confessed, the only way they could close this case was if she discovered some elusive piece of forensic evidence. While Maura had confidence in the team’s ability to find some clue to solve the case, the doctor was eager to close this case sooner rather than later.

It seemed that the only way she would ever get some time alone with Jane was if they put away the person who poisoned these victims. Unlike the detective, Maura was not ready to place her bets, so-to-speak, on Gene Finch. The doctor’s job was to follow the evidence, and so far, the evidence was merely circumstantial. But Jane seemed convinced that Gene was the culprit and that Josh was covering for him. The detective claimed that she had no idea why Gene would have anything against the Thompson’s, but that seemed to Maura to be a significant flaw in her hypothesis.

Here was the difference between Maura and Jane. Maura relied on cold, hard facts. Jane relied on her instincts. The thing the medical examiner noticed, though, was that Jane’s “gut” was often right. The detective clearly had some level of awareness that science had yet to explain. Jane could “read” people in a way that secretly fascinated Maura. She would never admit it, but Maura was sometimes jealous of Jane’s investigative talents.

“Hey,” Jane said in a soft, husky tone from the doorway, “you okay?”

Maura’s face instantly brightened as she saw the detective approaching her with two cups of coffee. She accepted one readily and smiled up at the brunette. Her frustrations melted away in the gaze of those russet colored eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Maura said with a soft sigh. “I just wish I could find something else for you.”

“Nothing new, then?” Jane said after taking a swig of her coffee.

“I’m afraid not,” Maura said. She had only been looking over the bodies again for about an hour, but she doubted more fretting would lead to any new discovery. “Did Tom Johnson’s will give you anything?”

“Frost is reviewing it right now.” Jane said, pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing.

“Shouldn’t you be helping him?” Maura inquired curiously.

Jane groaned, “I got about three paragraphs in before my head started to throb.”

“It’s that dense?” Maura asked.

“Not exactly,” Jane said taking another large gulp of coffee. “Let’s just say my brain isn’t functioning well this morning.”

“You mean you have a hangover?” Maura said in a rather scornful tone, realizing now why Jane had been speaking so quietly.

“Shh!” Jane said messaging her temples. “No, I just had one too many beers, okay?”

“Jane, that’s not very professional.” Maura said wagging her finger at her. “It’s the middle of the work week!”

“You don’t think I know that?” Jane said irritably, batting her accusing finger away. “Frost just wouldn’t get off my case, okay? He kept buying me drinks, trying to get me to loosen up.”

“I would have thought you were above being bullied by peer pressure,” Maura said flatly.

“ _Peer pressure_?” Jane frowned, “What is this, an after school special?”

“What are you talking about?” Maura said, looking equally agitated.

“Oh, never mind,” Jane said with a resigning sigh.

They were silent for a moment as they sipped at their coffee. Then, Maura’s curiosity got the best of her. “What was Frost bothering you about anyway?” Maura said squinting at her thoughtfully.

“Oh, he thinks I have a new boyfriend or something.” Jane said with an offhanded gesture.

“Why would he think you have a boyfriend?” Maura said with a confused expression.

“He says I’ve been acting strangely. ‘Happy go lucky,’ he said,” Jane laughed.

Maura smiled. Then a thought occurred to her, “Barry’s never been very interested in your previous romantic interests, has he?”

“Yeah…” Jane said frowning. That fact had not occurred to her before. Briefly she wondered why Barry was suddenly so interested, then shrugged it off. “Well, at least Korsak left me alone. Actually, more than once he told Frost to back off.”

“Oh, Vincent already knows,” Maura said simply.

“What?” Jane said looking at the doctor with a startled expression, “knows what?”

“That you and I are romantically involved,” Maura smiled.

“You told him?!” Jane choked, nearly spitting coffee out of her mouth in surprise.

“Yes.” Maura said looking equally startled, “Is that not okay?”

“No!” Jane said, blinking wildly, “You can’t just go around telling people we’re dating when I’m not even—I mean I haven’t even told my mother that I—that we—Maura I’m not ready to go telling everyone about my personal business.”

“It’s not like it was news to him, Jane!” Maura said, her voice growing angry, “He already knew; everybody already knows.”

“What are you talking about?!” Jane said indignantly.

“Goodness, Jane how deep in the closet are you?!” Maura said, struggling to keep her voice steady through the anger. It was simply insulting that Jane had expected her to keep her mouth shut when she had gone on the other night about how she wasn’t afraid of what others think.

“Excuse me?!” Jane said, her voice laden with outrage.

“For goodness sake, Jane, the whole department knows!” Maura said retreating to her desk. She was ready for this yelling match to be over and for Jane to just leave her alone already. “Besides, it was Vincent that approached me.”

Jane blinked at Maura for a moment, dumbfounded. She opened her mouth several times to speak, but no words formed. _The whole department?_ she thought to herself. How could the whole department know what she had only just pieced together herself?

“Wait,” Jane frowned, “Korsak came to you?”

“Yes,” Maura said with a shrug, “he stopped by my office yesterday just to chat. He asked if I knew anything about your recent behavior.”

“What did you tell him?” Jane insisted.

“Nothing at first,” Maura said, peering at her files rather than look Jane in the face. She could feel Jane’s angry gaze on her, so she continued. “But then he saw my smile, and he just…guessed.”

“Guessed?!” Jane said crossly. “So, what, you just decided to tell him everything?”

“Not everything!” Maura said indignantly. She finally looked up at Jane, resentment flaring in her hazel eyes, “Besides, who am I supposed to tell, Jane? You’re my only friend!”

Suddenly, Jane’s heart panged. Her indignance was replaced by remorse. The detective was lashing out against Maura out of fear—fear that was not only unnecessary but also ridiculous. In her heart, she knew her friends would accept her just the way she was, even if her mind kept telling her otherwise. What was worse, her doubts were causing her to hurt her best friend.

“Maur, I’m sorry.” Jane said, breaking the tense silence. “I didn’t mean—“

The ring of her cellphone interrupted her. Instinctively, she answered immediately, “Rizzoli.”

Maura had just decided to forgive the detective when she had been so rudely interrupted. She watched Jane out of the corner of her eye. Her agitation returned when she realized Jane would be running off again.

“That was Frost,” Jane said after she hung up, “Gene Finch is conscious.”

Maura looked at her sourly. She wasn’t letting Jane off the hook that easily. Rather than telling her that, though, Maura returned to her paperwork.

“Maura?” Jane pleaded.

“Go ahead, you have work to do and so do I,” Maura said flatly.

Jane stared at her for a moment. Maura did not look up, acting as if Jane had already left. With a huff Jane turned on her heel and left the doctor in her office.

xxx

“We’re here to interview Mr. Finch.” Jane told the nurse at the desk, peering down the hall for the uniformed officer.

“Mr. Finch was released this morning.” The nurse responded without even looking up from her charts.

“ _Released?!_ ” Jane said indignantly. “He was supposed to be placed into police custody for questioning!”

“I’m sorry,” The nurse said simply, “but all I know is…” she indicated the computer at her desk, “…he was released at 9 am this morning… A.M.A…. under the care of …Joshua Finch.”

“Great!” Jane said, tossing her hands up in frustration.

“Do you know who authorized the release?” Frost asked in a calm tone.

“That would be me.”

Jane rolled her eyes at the familiar voice. “Danielle Simmons, how lovely to see you again,” the detective said sarcastically.

The lawyer handed Jane a formal document. “It seems a judge doesn’t find it likely that a man in Gene Finch’s condition could be responsible for such a heinous and convoluted crime.”

“What I don’t find likely is that the Johnson family would pay for their legal team to defend their top competitor,” Jane snapped sardonically.

“I am here upon the personal request of Josh Finch.” Danielle said speaking at Jane rather then to her. She turned and addressed the nurse, “I’m here to collect Gene Finch’s belongings.”

“Left in quite a hurry, I guess,” Jane noted to Frost.

“Josh was eager to get Mr. Finch home where he would be comfortable,” Danielle said in an impatient tone.

“Against medical advice?” Jane said in disbelief. “Seems more likely Josh is trying to keep Gene from talking to us.”

“I assure you that Josh is willing to cooperate with the police in every way necessary.” The lawyer responded, taking the bag of items from the nurse.

“If that’s true, then why does he keep hiding his uncle from us?” the detective said irritably.

“Josh is doing nothing of the sort.” Danielle said, turning to leave. “He’s simply trying to ensure his well-being.”

“And you?” Jane said with suspicion, “Who’s well-being are you looking out for?”

“What are you implying?” the blond said, turning on Jane with an indignant expression.

Jane squinted at the lawyer warily as she sized her up. Ever since Josh had greeted the lawyer as Danielle yesterday, Jane had been curious about the true nature of their relationship. Seeing her here today had only increased her doubts about whether their relationship was purely professional. The lawyer’s defensive response only confirmed Jane’s suspicions.

“What exactly is your relationship with Josh?” Frost asked, catching on to where Jane was headed.

“I have no _relationship_ with Josh. I am simply his lawyer.” Danielle said with audible impatience.

“Correction, you are his company’s lawyer.” Jane said, handing her a warrant, “And Mr. Finch’s belongings are evidence. You wouldn’t happen to be trying to get rid of evidence, would you?”

“Of course not,” Danielle said, handing over the bag after skimming the warrant, “that would be a felony.”

xxx

“This is ridiculous!” Maura said tossing her instruments down and removing her gloves with an exasperated sigh. Unable to focus on the paperwork she needed to finish and finding online shoe shopping to be no relief either, she had started looking over the Thompson’s corpses again. But it was to no avail; there was nothing else to be gleaned from examining them.

She looked up at the clock. It was only a quarter past eleven. She glanced at her cell. No word from Jane either. She was probably still interviewing Mr. Finch. With any luck the detective would get the confession they needed. Maura doubted there was anything else she could do but wait.

Then Maura had an idea. It wasn’t like the doctor to have sudden epiphanies when it came to the cases they worked, but, apparently, she had been spending so much time with the detective that a bit of her intuitive talent seemed to have rubbed off on her. The problem Maura had been encountering was a result of her approach. Collecting and categorizing evidence was the way of science. Understanding and predicting human behavior was the way of criminal investigation.

What the team had so far ignored, or rather been unable to explain and so moved on to other approaches, was how exactly the bacterium had been transferred into the appropriate items. Maura sped off to Evidence to take another look at the items that had been collected at the Thompson’s apartment. On the way upstairs, the elevator stopped at the main floor, where Frankie and a couple others stepped inside.

“Dr. Isles!” he said excitedly, though he looked exhausted. “Going up to see Jane?”

“Actually,” Maura said, noting Frankie’s appearance, “I was on my way up to Evidence. If you’re looking for Jane and Barry, they are at Boston Memorial interviewing Mr. Finch.”

“Oh.” Frankie said sounding slightly disappointed. “So, how’s the case going?”

“Not so well…” Maura admitted, slightly distracted as she cursed herself for not collecting the evidence from the Thompson’s apartment herself.

“What are you looking for in Evidence?” Frankie said curiously, following her off the elevator.

“I’m not sure,” Maura said distractedly—her mind was busy running through all the dozens of documents she had read in the past three days.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you had turned into my sister.” Frankie said, watching her with fascination.

“Hm?” Maura said, not really paying attention, she was busy looking for the proper evidence box.

“I said if I didn’t know any better, I would think you’d turned into Jane.” Frankie repeated, watching her squint at the contents of evidence bags.

“Why would you say that?” Maura asked, not really listening.

“It’s just not like you,” Frankie said with a shrug.

“What’s not like me?” she said, glancing at him briefly with a frown.

“Detective work,” Frankie shrugged again.

“I’m just being thorough,” Maura said, suddenly spotting what she didn’t even know she had been looking for.

“Eager to close the case, huh?” Frankie said in a teasing tone, one Maura was only accustomed to hearing him use with Jane.

“Yes,” Maura said suddenly curious as to why Frankie was following her around like a lost little puppy. “What’s with the sudden interest?”

“Dunno, just wondering,” he said with a shrug. “You and Jane have just been acting strange lately.”

Maura glanced nervously at Jane’s little brother. What was it that Jane was doing? Whistling love songs and skipping about merrily? The thought made Maura smile for a moment. Then she remembered she was still peeved with Jane.

“I not sure I know what you’re talking about.” Maura said as she signed the sheet to check the bag out of Evidence.

“Right there!” Frankie said pointing at her stifled grin. “Every time someone mentions Jane you get all giddy and nervous and she does the same about you.”

“Frankie,” Maura said taking her phone out to call the very topic of conversation, “I don’t know what you think is—Look, nothing _strange_ is happening between us.”

Maura gulped, struggling to swallow what she had just said. It wasn’t _really_ a lie. Their behavior was different from their usual, but in the literal sense, it was not as if it weren’t _normal_ to be attracted to each other this way. _Ugh,_ she thought to herself, _I hate lying!_

Jane’s phone rang several times and then went to voicemail. Maura hung up. She was unable to focus on leaving a message with Frankie on her case like this. She wished he would just leave her alone, but she was too polite to say so.

Frankie, meanwhile, eyed her suspiciously. Suddenly, he seemed to decide to take the direct approach for he just came out and asked her, “Are you and Jane involved?”

“In—involved?” Maura stuttered, blinking at him madly. For being the master of blunt questions she sure was surprised to be confronted with one.

“Come on, Maura, everyone can see it!” Frankie said elbowing her playfully.

“See what?” Maura said, trying to act as if she had no idea what he was talking about, but Maura was a horrible actress.

“That you two are good for each other.” Frankie said, his tone still playful. “Even Ma has warmed up to the idea.”

“Angela knows?” Maura said with surprise. From what Angela had said the other day in the café she had begun to wonder if Angela knew more than she was letting on, still, she didn’t think Angela would be discussing the two of them with Frankie.

“So, there is something going on!” Frankie said with a triumphant smile.

“Great,” Maura mumbled, barely audible, “Jane is really going to have something to complain about now.”

“Is Janie making you keep quiet about the two of you?” Frankie said, seeming slightly surprised.

“We haven’t really had much time to talk about it.” Maura said, heading to the elevator. “Or anything, for that matter,” she added exasperatedly.

“I don’t know why she’s so worried.” Frankie said with a shrug, “I’ve known she’s gay ever since she had that crush on Maggie from down the street back when she was eight.”

“Maggie?” Maura said with an inquisitive frown.

“Yeah.” Frankie said with a shrug. “She and Janie were connected at the hip all the way through elementary school.”

“Funny,” Maura said stepping out of the elevator onto the main floor, “Jane never mentioned her.”

“Hey, where’re you headed?” Frankie asked as Maura headed towards the main entrance.

“Back to the crime scene.” Maura said, heading for her car. “I need to find the rest of _this._ ” She indicated a small piece of plastic that was in the evidence bag she had checked out.

“What’s that?” Frankie said, still following her.

“I hope that it’s the piece of evidence that confirms Jane’s theory.” Maura said, climbing into her car.

“You’re not going to the crime scene alone, are you?” Frankie said, sounding sincerely concerned.

“Don’t worry, Frankie, I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but how about I go with you, just in case.”

Maura tilted her head at him as if to say “really?” But after a moment she reconsidered. With a nod, she gestured for him to get in her car.

She smiled knowingly. Frankie sure had the Rizzoli protectiveness that Maura so admired in Jane.

(to be continued)


	11. The Language of Flowers

Jane inspected Gene Finch's belongings as Frost drove. Most of the items were of no evidentiary value: an old toothbrush, travel size mouthwash and shampoo, a clean change of socks and underwear, a crinkled copy of Time Magazine. But what Jane found at the bottom of the bag was exactly what she had been hoping for.

"Ah ha!" the detective said, removing the bloodstained handkerchief with a gloved hand. "Just what I've always wanted."

"Damn," Frost said with mock disappointment, "I went and spent all that money on your birthday present when all this time you just wanted a dirty hankie."

Jane laughed. "Aw, Frost, you didn't have to get me a present." She said with equal facetiousness.

"Good," Frost said with a toothy smile, "because I didn't get you anything."

Jane elbowed her partner playfully, "Jerk." She placed the handkerchief in an evidence bag. "We should get this evidence back to the station. Hopefully, Maura can get something off it so we can close this damn case."

"Eager to get to personal matters?" Frost said curiously, noticing Jane checking her phone again.

"Will you stop pestering me, Frost?" Jane said, noticing Maura's missed call. She dialed the M.E. but there was no answer.

"I'll stop pestering you when you admit there's something going on." Frost said, as they pulled into the station.

"Fine. Something's going on. Happy now?" Jane said, climbing out of the car.

"It's Maura, isn't it?" Frost said.

Jane stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't dare turn around; doing so would only reveal the deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. Instead, she gulped and desperately tried to figure out how to change the subject.

"It's okay, Jane." Frost said patting the detective on the shoulder encouragingly, "It's not like I'm surprised or anything."

Jane followed Frost into the station in shock. She didn't know what to think, no less say. _It's not like I'm surprised_ , the phrase repeated in Jane's mind over and over. She knew people had been suspicious about her sexuality before, but, honestly, was she really the last to know? She didn't know whether to be relieved or insulted.

"Maura's a wonderful person." Frost said, holding the door for her. "You just be good to her, okay?"

"Shit." Jane said, suddenly remembering how much of an ass she had been to Maura this morning.

"What now?" Frost said, frowning at her.

"Can you please take these down to Maura?" Jane said, handing him the evidence bags. "I've got something I've got to do."

"What about interviewing Gene Finch?" Frost said, staring after her confused.

"I'll meet you at Finch's. Twenty minutes, okay?" she said, heading for her car.

"Wait, where are you going?" Frost said, blinking in disbelief.

"Doing as you said, being good to Maura." Jane said with a wide grin on her face.

xxx

"What is it we’re looking for, anyway?" Frankie said bending down to peek under the kitchen table in the Thompson's cramped apartment.

"I have reason to believe that piece of plastic comes from a hypodermic syringe." Maura said, comparing a set of crime scene photos to a particular spot on the floor. She frowned pensively, as if making calculations. Her gaze skimmed over the uneven floorboards purposefully.

"A hypodermic syringe?" Frankie said, "I thought the victims died of food poisoning."

"Yes," Maura nodded, not really paying attention, "I believe it is a small one used to deliver subcutaneous injections of insulin."

Frankie stood up straight, looking at the M.E. confused, "Wait, so the murder weapon was insulin?"

"No, no…" Maura said absent mindedly as her eyes caught sight of a heating vent on the floor hidden by the outcrop of the kitchen counter. From her things she took an evidence bag and a pair of tweezers.

"Here we are!" Maura said, barely able to contain her excitement.

"What is that?" Frankie said squinting at the crushed syringe Maura had just un-wedged from the grate over the hidden heating vent.

"Proof that I can't trust anyone to do my job but me," Maura mumbled irritably.

"You can't do everything, Maura," Frankie shrugged. "So, how'd you know you'd find that here?"

"I didn't." Maura said, placing it into an evidence bag labeled 'bio-hazardous.'

"Lucky guess?" Frankie smiled.

"I don't guess." Maura said with utter sincerity.

"Then what would you call it?" he said.

"I made a hypothesis based on relevant observations, the second step in the scientific method," she said with a reassuring nod.

Frankie raised his eyebrows and gave her a classic Rizzoli "Oh, really?" expression. "So," he said, "what 'relevant observations' told you that you would find that here?"

"Well," she said, with a triumphant smile, "like every scientific inquiry I started with a question: how was the pathogen introduced?"

"But what made you think they would use a syringe?" Frankie said.

"Because,” Maura smiled, “if working with Jane has taught me anything, it's that criminals are highly predictable."

"What do you mean?" Frankie said, following Maura out of the kitchen.

"They tend to use what is readily available," Maura said with a smile as Frankie reached for the knob to open the door for her.

Suddenly, and all in one instant, half a dozen things happened. Frankie's hand was barely on the doorknob when the door burst open with a loud crack. In a flash, the heavy oak swung and smashed into his face with enough force to knock him off his feet. Instinctually, Maura jumped back, letting out a shocked yelp. Her sudden movement backward shielded her from a large amount of the force coming from a desperate tackle from one very surprised looking Joshua Finch.

With a thud and a groan, the doctor landed on the floor a few feet away, her things splaying across the floor—including the recently collected evidence. Spotting the evidence bag, a flustered and panting Josh dived into the apartment. By this time Frankie had recovered enough of his senses to reach for his gun.

"Stop!" Frankie yelled, blood dripping from his nose and into his mouth. He pointed his gun at the muscular brunet who was already leaping over the sofa and heading for the back of the apartment. "Police!" Frankie hollered.

Josh wasn't listening. He had already smashed through the living room window onto the fire escape. Frankie had barely scrambled to his feet by the time Josh had recovered from his rough landing onto the steel platform outside the window.

xxx

Jane had just pulled up in front of Finch's when she noticed Maura's car across the street. "Well that explains why Frost couldn't find you," Jane said as she parked the car.

She had just finished her errand and was on her way back to the station when her partner had called her, saying that he wasn't able to find Maura, but that Korsak was going to meet them at the restaurant as well. She hadn't thought much of it, figuring the doctor had just decided to go out for lunch. But when she saw Maura's car parked in front of Tommie-John's she doubted that the doctor was there for their famous pizza.

Considering she saw no sign of either Frost or Korsak, she figured she had a few minutes to spare. On top of being curious about what Maura was up to, she was hoping to get a chance to give her the surprise that waited for her in the front seat of her unmarked car. She smiled nervously as she crossed the street, she really hoped Maura would like them.

Just as she was peeking in the windows of the restaurant, she heard a muffled crack and a yelp followed by two thuds. Jane looked up at the apartment above in fright. Had that been Maura's voice she had heard? With the noise from the street she was surprised she had heard it at all. She had almost convinced herself she had imagined it when she heard glass shattering in the alleyway to the left.

Immediately, her hand went to her gun as she sprinted towards the alley. She raised her weapon at the figure struggling to climb down the fire escape. Instantly, she recognized him.

"Stop where you are Finch!" Jane commanded, aiming up at him threateningly.

He turned to face her. As soon as he noticed her weapon, his hands went up into the air. "Don't shoot!" he said, the evidence bag dropping to the ground.

The two of them flinched as Frankie jumped out the window gun first. "Hold it!" he yelled, but he was a little late to the game.

"Frankie?" Jane said, frowning up at her brother. _Is that blood dripping from his nose?_ she thought.

"Jane!" Frankie said, keeping his weapon trained on Josh.

"I'm unarmed!" Josh said wearily eyeing each of them.

"What's going on here?" Jane said to Frankie, glad that Josh was out of reach; had he been closer she would have struggled with the urge to tackle him linebacker style. No one was allowed to beat up on her little brother but her. "Where's Maura?"

"He burst through the door." Frankie said, "Nearly knocked both of us out. Then he stole the evidence Maura just found."

Jane bent down and scooped up the evidence bag, keeping one eye on Josh and her weapon trained. Briefly, the detective eyed the contents of the bag. She had seen something like this before. Then she remembered. It was just like the syringe she had seen on the table beside Gene Finch's bed at the hospital, although that one had not been in quite so many pieces. Maura had solved the case.

"Maura!" Jane suddenly said, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Frankie assured her, "just a little bruised."

But Jane was not convinced until she had a chance to check on the doctor herself a few minutes later. Frost was reading Josh his rights as he cuffed and forced him, somewhat roughly, into the squad car. Frankie was trying to give his statement while an EMT was attending to his broken nose. Maura had refused medical treatment and instead was informing a crime scene tech—with somewhat unnecessary rebuke—the importance of thoroughness and careful management of evidence.

"Lay off the poor girl, Maur." Jane said, placing a hand delicately on the doctor's shoulder. "It's not her fault."

"You're right." Maura admitted, turning to face the detective with a weak smile. Other than looking a bit stiff and her clothes looking a little less than flawless, she seemed unharmed.

"You okay?" Jane said, brushing a strand of hair from Maura's face, studying her eyes closely. The doctor might not be physically harmed, but Jane could sense Maura was upset.

"This is all my fault." Maura said, looking flustered and teary-eyed.

"What?" Jane said in disbelief, squeezing her shoulder as if to shake this silly idea from her head. "How is any of this your fault?"

Maura winced slightly. Her shoulder was still sore from where she had hit the floor. The pain lessened as Jane ran her hand down her arm apologetically. The doctor suddenly wished they were somewhere else, anywhere but in front of her coworkers. It was hard to keep professional when she was struggling so hard not to cry.

"If only I had investigated that scene myself, I never would have missed that evidence, Frankie and I would never have been there and he never would have gotten his—" Maura said before Jane interrupted her by placing a hand softly on her cheek as if to force the doctor to look in her the eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, Maura," Jane said staring resolutely into her hazel eyes, "calm down. Frankie is fine. He might be a bit banged up, but he'll be fine. I've probably done worse to him myself."

Jane smiled, thinking back to how rough her and her brothers were back when they were kids. She had probably broken Frankie's nose at least twice, Tommie's at least four times. Jane wouldn't be surprised if her mother looked at her accusingly as soon as she caught a glimpse of Frankie's face.

"As for the evidence," Jane continued, "that's not your fault either. You can't be everywhere; you can't do everything."

"Yes, but if I had been more thorough, I would have known that—" Maura said, highly conscious of Jane's hand, which was now on her shoulder.

"But you figured it out now," Jane interrupted her. "You solved the case!"

"I did?" Maura frowned. "… I guess I did."

Jane quietly admired the smile that grew on the doctor's face. For a genius, Maura was often absolutely clueless. It was one of the many things about Maura that Jane found perfectly adorable.

"Come on, let me take you back to the station." Jane said, her hand falling to Maura's back protectively as they crossed the street to Jane's car.

They could talk about the case later. Right now, Jane just wanted to get Maura comfortable. Maybe then she would let Jane at least get her some ice for the bruises she was obviously hiding. It didn't matter how brave she was, a woman of Maura's size didn't get tackled by a man as big as Josh Finch without getting a bit beaten up.

"That's really not necessary," Maura said, even as she approached Jane's car.

"I know, but let me take care of you, okay?" Jane said holding the passenger door open for her. "One of the uniforms can drop your car off at the station later."

"What are those?" Maura said as she spotted the bouquet of flowers Jane had left on the seat.

"Oh…" Jane said, suddenly feeling her cheeks redden. In all that had happened since she showed up in front of Finch’s, she had forgotten all about the gift—and the terrible embarrassment she had suffered asking the florist for advice—"Those were for …"

"Jane, they're beautiful!" Maura said, reading everything she needed to know in the detective's blushing face. The doctor brought the flowers to her face, closing her eyes briefly as she inhaled the scent of lilac and lilies.

"I'm sorry about this morning." Jane said. Really, she was sorry for ever doubting Maura, for questioning where this was going, for thinking, even for a moment, that being with Maura was not the best decision she ever made. The detective smiled happily at the grinning doctor.

"I was a jerk," Jane continued, as a speechless Maura looked at her. She really hoped the teary look in Maura's eyes was a good sign, because she had gone to that flower shop with absolutely no idea of what the hell she was doing.

When she had tried to explain to the florist—in as little detail as possible— what the situation was, she had been surprised when the young woman had insisted on this particular mix, violet lilacs and sunset orange lilies. The florist had nodded at her reassuringly, giving her a knowing wink. In the end, she only agreed because the lilacs reminded her of Maura's perfume and the lilies had the same auburn hue as Maura's hair in the sunlight. She had shaken her head and laughed as she brought the bouquet to the car, silently cursing Maura for turning her into a hopeless romantic.

Jane only hoped that Maura didn't find them silly. Quite to the detective's surprise, Maura absolutely loved them. What Jane didn't know, and, of course, Maura did, was the symbolic meaning of the flowers. Later, Jane would mentally thank the florist for leaving out this little detail, because, had she told her what they meant, she never would have had the courage to purchase them.

The detective got her first inkling of this meaning when, quite suddenly, Maura leapt at her enthusiastically, placing a passionate kiss on her unexpecting lips. At first, Jane had a shocked look in her coffee brown eyes. Soon, however, she melted appreciatively into the kiss, her eyes closing dreamily and her arms wrapping around Maura's back. Maura draped her arms around Jane's neck, sucking softly at Jane's bottom lip and fighting the urge to press her tongue into Jane's parted mouth.

Jane was vaguely aware of the fact that several officers just some yards behind her were cheering. She also thought she heard her brother making very loud objections. What she was more worried about, however, was the fact that Maura was not relenting. She was more than appreciating the affection, but they were, after all, still at work.

The detective was just about to step back when she suddenly became aware of the relative silence behind her. She opened her eyes and nearly stumbled back, her gaze meeting just about the most frightening sight she could think of.

"Ma?" Jane said in the highest pitched voice Maura had ever heard come from her lips.

"Janie?" Angela said, a shocked look on her reddened face.

(to be continued)


	12. Rizzoli Family Drama

“Ma, what are you doing here?” Jane said, a stab of fear piercing her in the chest. She felt as if she had awoken from a very pleasant dream into a very unpleasant nightmare.

Angela blinked at her daughter, then at the doctor. Even Maura was confused by how shocked she looked. Quickly, though, the older woman recovered from the shock of seeing the two of them so intimately embraced. She rapidly moved into outrage.

“Shit, shit, shit…” Jane whispered feeling panic wash over her like a tidal wave. She was swiftly drowning in frantic excuses, but nothing left her lips but curses. “Fuck, fuck…”

“Jane…” Maura said in a soothing voice, grasping her hand gently. Jane looked impossibly pale and was backing away. Maura thought that if she had not caught hold of the detective, she might have just turned and ran away as quickly as her legs could take her. “It’s going to be okay,” Maura whispered as Angela approached them.

Angela had a furious look on her face, as if she was going to slap some sense into her daughter no matter how old she may be. “Janie!” she said, pointing at the brunette, her face red and her eyes wide. “How could you?”

Maura turned to face Jane’s mother, even she was shocked at how ridiculous Angela was being about this. The doctor could have sworn that Angela had not only already know about but was supportive of their relationship. Maura stood in front of Jane defensively.

“Angela, I think you’re being a little dramatic…” Maura said, stepping back in fright as Angela’s eyes widened at the last word.

“Dramatic?!” Angela said, pointing furiously behind them, “Look at my poor little Frankie!”

Without another beat Angela swept past the two dumbfounded women and rushed to her son, who looked just as shocked as his sister. She rushed to the ambulance where the EMT was just packing up, having finished attending to Frankie’s broken nose. Despite some awfully dark bruising and some blood spots on his white undershirt, he looked just fine.

“Ma, I’m fine!” Frankie said, turning red in the face as Angela attempted to wrap her arms around her middle child.

“Wait!” Jane said in an indignant tone, spinning around, “That’s what you’re upset about?!”

“Of course!” Angela said trying to dote on Frankie, who continued to try to push her off him. “How could you let this happen to your baby brother?!”

“MA!” Frankie and Jane yelled in unison.

“You’re his older sister! You’re supposed to take care of him!” Angela said, pointing at Jane accusingly.

A squeeze on Jane’s hand brought her back down from the emotional rollercoaster she was trapped on. She turned to see Maura smiling at her as if to say, “I told you so.”

Jane blinked at her for a moment. Then another tidal wave hit the detective—this one a wave of realization. Her mother knew. Her mother knew and she was far more concerned about her little brother’s broken nose than the fact that Jane was in a relationship with a woman.

She smiled. First it was a shy smile, as if she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to feel this calm. Then it grew; it swelled into a wide grin, taking over her whole face. Laughter bubbled up from her stomach. What had she been so scared of? She couldn’t remember. She was too busy keeling over in laughter.

Maura was laughing too. At first, she had looked at Jane as if she were crazy, and then she realized why Jane was so happy. All this time the detective had been worrying about how to tell people about them. Now, finally, Jane realized not only did everyone already know, it really didn’t bother them. Her mother had just caught them kissing and was no more perturbed than if they had been hugging.

“I don’t find this whole situation very funny!” Angela said, rounding on her daughter smacking her angrily on the shoulder.

“Ma!” Jane said, fighting back fits of giggles. It was just like any other day in the Rizzoli family. Despite it being embarrassingly open for the whole squad to see, Jane was relieved that it was just like any other family feud they ever had.

“Don’t think I have forgotten what you two were up to just now!” Angela said reprovingly.

Maura looked at Angela with a puzzled expression, “Angela I thought you already knew…?”

“Of course, I knew!” Angela said in an insulted tone, “That doesn’t mean I didn’t expect you two to have the courtesy to tell me! I mean, Janie, don’t you know I love you?!”

“Of course, Ma.” Jane said looking apologetic, “I know that.”

“I don’t understand how you could keep this from me…” Angela said, looking hurt as she glanced at Maura, “Especially, you Maura, we talk about everything. I thought you would tell me that you two finally went for it.”

“Angela I’m—" Maura started, peering at Jane’s mother repentantly.

“Wait, you talked to Ma about us?” Jane said with shock.

“No.” Angela and Maura said simultaneously.

“I could just tell by the way she always changed the subject when we got to talking about you.” Angela said with a sigh, “The way you two are always looking at each other.”

Jane shifted uncomfortably; her mother’s voice had turned soft and dreamy, the way it did when she talked about people being in love. The last thing the detective needed was her mother going on about them pining for each other in front of the whole squad and everyone on the street.

“Ma, I need to get Maura back to the station,” Jane groaned irritably.

“Oh!” Angela said, her voice suddenly filled with concern again, “Maura are you okay? That Finch fellow didn’t hurt you too, did he?”

“I’m fine,” Maura reassured her.

“Janie, take good care of her, okay?” Angela said to her daughter firmly.

“Yes, Ma.” Jane said, rolling her eyes. _Which one of us is your daughter again?_ Jane thought as Angela fussed over the doctor, insisting that she should give Maura a once-over before letting her climb into Jane’s car. Jane was just about to climb into the driver’s seat when her mother stepped in front of her and started fidgeting with her clothing.

“Ma, what are you doing?” Jane said, trying to brush her off.

“Don’t you ever wear anything nice?” Angela said, trying to pat the wrinkles out of Jane’s jacket.

“Ma, I’m at work.” Jane said, trying to dodge around her. “These are my work clothes.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t wear something nice and…” she shrugged her shoulders as she continued, “…ya know, flattering.”

“Flattering?” Jane said in disbelief.

“You know, for Maura…” Angela said shrugging nonchalantly.

“Ma, we’re headed back to the station, not a five-star restaurant,” Jane said diving into the car in a desperate attempt to escape her mother.

Angela leaned down to speak to her daughter through the open window as she started the car, “No proper apology is complete without a candle-lit dinner, you know.”

“What apology?” Jane said, looking at her incredulously.

“The flowers.” Angela said simply.

“What about them?” Jane said, frowning at her mother.

“You got them for Maura to apologize.” Angela said, “What did you do this time?”

“How did you know—hey what do you mean _this_ time?” Jane said wishing her mother wasn’t blocking the view of traffic behind her; otherwise, she would have gunned it out of there already.

“Janie, I know you,” Angela said pointing at the orange and purple bouquet. “For one, I know that you know absolutely nothing about flowers. Meaning you probably got some very good advice on choosing _those._ For two, I was standing there longer than you think.”

“What?!” Jane and Maura said simultaneously, though Jane was more insulted and Maura more shocked.

“I’ll see you later, Janie.” Angela assured her before heading over to Frankie, who was climbing into a squad car with another uniformed officer.

“What is she talking about?” Jane said looking at Maura in disbelief.

“I think she means she was watching us _before_ we were kissing.” Maura said, still a little shocked herself. She couldn’t believe she had let her emotions take ahold of her like that, right in front of all her coworkers.

“No, I mean, the flower thing,” Jane said, pulling out into the street.

“I’ll tell you later,” Maura smiled.

xxx

Jane wasn’t sure how she felt about Maura finishing the workday at the station, but the doctor insisted that she was fine and that she had a lot of work to get finished. Jane, too, had a lot of details to wrap up regarding the case. The trouble was, she didn’t want to face the squad just yet, not after all that had happened at the crime scene. All the stuff with her mother she could get over, but the squad was not going to leave her alone about the whole Maura thing.

Korsak, she knew, would leave her be, maybe even tell the others to mind their own business. Frost might even go light on her, considering their earlier conversation. It was the others she wasn’t so sure about.

Jane was a very private person. She wasn’t as overly concerned about professionalism as Maura, but she certainly avoided letting romance interfere with work. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but she liked to keep things like that under wraps. Who she was dating was her own business, even if she happened to work with them.

Keeping her and Maura’s relationship on the downlow was hardly possible now. Not that she had planned—or expected to be able to—keep it a complete secret. Honestly, Jane had no idea what she had expected. She had not had enough time to think about any of it. Outside of trying to solve this case and trying to find time to talk it all over with Maura, she had had little time left for much else.

So, rather than immediately head up to the bullpen to meet up with Frost and Korsak, she followed Maura down to the morgue. She busied herself with fussing over Maura’s comfort rather than facing the inevitable awkwardness upstairs.

“Are you sure you don’t want to just go home?” Jane said as Maura placed her flowers in a vase on her desk. _Oh great,_ Jane thought, _she’s going to display them for everyone to see._ Jane shook the thought from her head as she offered, “No one would think any less of you if you left early. You can always finish up this stuff later.”

“I told you, Jane, I’m fine.” Maura said heading for the other room to go over the day’s evidence. “Besides, if I get all this done now, I’ll have more time later.”

The doctor glanced at the detective with a suggestive smile and a raised eyebrow. Jane gulped nervously at the power of that expression. She pretended she did not know what Maura was insinuating, but it was blatantly obvious by the way Maura’s hazel eyes were studying Jane appreciatively.

Suddenly, facing the squad didn’t seem so intimidating after all. Besides, she did have to get upstairs to complete her statement and process Josh and Gene Finch’s arrests. The longer she spent down here, the harder it would be to leave, and the more distracted she would be about that feeling Maura was stirring low in her belly.

xxx

By the end of the day, the case was not yet entirely closed—that would have to wait until test results and more D.N.A. analysis confirmed the confessions of Josh and Gene Finch. Those results would not come in until the next day at the earliest. They did, however, have enough evidence to arrest both of them, the elderly of which was placed under medical care soon after being discovered at Josh and Jenny’s apartment.

As for the details of the crime, Jane’s report—which she finished typing up before heading down to the morgue—would state the case basically as follows: Josh Finch, struggling to pay his growing debt from failing business and befriending the daughter of a successful restaurant owner, decided that he had found a way to pay off his debt and to help his uncle’s struggling business. Once gaining the trust of his girlfriend’s father—a process that took nearly two long years—he began to sabotage the restaurant. His plan, he finally admitted to the detectives, was to force Mr. Johnson into selling Finch’s only neighboring competition.

Gene Finch was initially unaware of Josh’s plan—causing tension between the two of them. This led Jennifer to further trust that Josh was not associating himself with their long-time rival—who had tried to sabotage them before. But, unexpectedly, Mr. Johnson had decided to make Josh part owner in the Tommie-John’s business. As it would turn out, this was because Tom Johnson had recently discovered he had cancer and had mere months to live.

The business was much more valuable as it was then at its depreciated value from bad publicity and health department shutdown, but Josh had trouble explaining this to Gene. His Alzheimer’s not only made him constantly forget things, it made him paranoid and prone to violent outbursts. He refused to believe that Josh (or anyone) was working in his best interest. So, he continued to try to sabotage Tommie-John’s.

One such attempt had been the night that Dane Thompson had witnessed Gene leaving Tom Johnson’s restaurant cradling a wounded hand. From what could be gathered from Gene’s confounded recollections and Josh’s testimony about what he had attempted to cover up, the two had gotten into a heated argument when Tom discovered Gene destroying Tommie-John’s cooling equipment.

Unaware that Gene was barely mentally competent, Tom had either gone at his rival or tried to protect himself with a butcher’s knife, resulting in the cut on Gene’s hand and the blood on the towel. Josh guessed that Tom had tried to help Gene when he realized he was hurt.

“He was a good man, after all,” Josh had said with remorse. “I never wished him any harm.” Jane had held in a sarcastic remark. She highly doubted that Josh really cared about Mr. Johnson’s welfare, considering he was out to bankrupt him and steal his company. Instead, Josh continued without another beat.

Apparently, Gene had gotten Tom’s blood all over his shirt when Tom coughed up blood on him. It was then that Gene left and eventually turned back up at Josh’s doorstep. When Mr. Johnson ended up in the hospital and died not long after, Josh assumed that his uncle had something to do with it. What Josh did not know, and was confirmed by Maura’s autopsy report, was that Mr. Johnson had, in fact, died from an accidental case of food poisoning, probably from his own carelessness and refusal to seek medical attention.

Confronting his uncle angrily, Josh had sent Gene into a fit as he recalled the scenes from the other night in broken images. So, Josh attempted to cover up Gene’s supposed crime by cleaning up the evidence at the restaurant. He thought that he was in the clear until Jennifer insisted that her father’s death be investigated. Mistakenly believing that more cases of food poisoning would throw the police off of Gene’s trail, Josh decided to sabotage the Thompson’s food with whatever pathogens he could find in the food he was forced to dispose of when Tommie-John’s was closed down.

Out of convenience Josh used some of Gene’s hypodermic syringes—which he used to treat his type 2 diabetes, which Maura had recalled from his medical file—to transport the pathogens. What Josh was unfortunately unaware of, however, was just how potent the mix of bacteria and toxins were and how vulnerable the elderly couple’s immune systems were. He claimed that he never meant to kill them, only to throw the suspicion off Gene.

xxx

“Did Josh really confess to all of that?” Maura asked curiously as Jane finished summing up what she had written in her report.

“Not in so many words,” Jane said with a sigh, thinking about all the piecing together she had done in the past four hours. “He confessed to trying to cover up what his uncle had done and indicated the reason his uncle was so upset was that he thought he was helping his competitor. Really it was his financials, witness reports and finally Tom Johnson’s will that did most of the talking.”

“Poor Jennifer,” Maura said, thinking about how Josh Finch had fooled her.

“I feel sorry for Josh,” Jane said with a laugh.

“Really?” Maura frowned.

“No, not really,” Jane admitted, “but I think it’s kind of sad how delusional he is.”

“How so?” Maura questioned.

“He honestly believed he could have it all: the money, his uncle’s approval, Jennifer _and_ Danielle.” Jane said shaking her head in disbelief.

“Danielle?” Maura said with a frown.

“His ex.” Jane said with a sigh, “The obnoxious lawyer I told you about. He actually got her to try to help him destroy evidence.”

“Not a very smart lawyer.” Maura shrugged, “Attractive, though.”

“What?!” Jane said startled.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t I tell you?” Maura said offhandedly, “I met her briefly.”

“When?” Jane demanded.

“Jane Rizzoli, are you _jealous_?” Maura teased.

“No!” Jane insisted, not looking at the doctor. Instead she fiddled with the flowers on Maura’s desk.

“You are too.” Maura said simply, smiling at Jane knowingly. “You shouldn’t be, though.”

“Really?” Jane said sardonically, still not looking at Maura, “Why not?”

“Because, I told you, I love _you_.” Maura said wrapping her arms around Jane’s neck.

“Yeah?” Jane said, glancing at the doctor briefly.

“Yes.” Maura insisted.

Jane could feel Maura’s hungry gaze on her. Still, she avoided locking eyes with the honey blond. She was afraid she would pull another move like the other night and leave her wanting. Instead, she wanted to enjoy the moment here in her arms, even if it felt like a stolen one, hiding here in Maura’s office.

“What did you tell the florist when you bought those flowers?” Maura asked, noticing Jane studying them.

“Not much,” Jane said, recalling her trip to the flower shop not far from the station.

She had been staring absentmindedly at all the selections for several minutes when suddenly the florist had caught her attention. She smiled at her knowingly.

“You’re new to this, aren’t you?” the girl had said.

“New?” Jane blinked at her. “Oh, no, I’ve bought flowers before.”

The detective laughed nervously, and the girl smiled, “But this time it’s different, right?”

Jane blushed and tried to pretend she had no idea what this lady was talking about. “I mean it’s not like I haven’t bought her flowers before.”

“Yes, of course.” The young, shorthaired blond nodded, “So, what’s the occasion?”

“Well, I was kind of an ass.” Jane said, not really looking at the florist, but having no idea where to focus her attention.

“So, you want an apology bouquet?” the florist said, heading for the counter.

“No!” Jane said suddenly.

“No?” the florist said, stopping and looking at her questioningly.

“I mean, I don’t want to get her something corny or you know… typical.” Jane said growing increasingly uncomfortable with this conversation. She was suddenly thankful that the shop was empty except for the two of them.

“Okay,” The girl said, with an encouraging smile. “So, tell me about your… friend.”

“She’s just…” Jane trailed off. She could think of so many ways to finish that sentence: so right, so perfect, so gifted, so beautiful … so everything she never knew she wanted.

“‘She deserves so much more than flowers.’ I finally said,” Jane explained, finishing her story. Finally, she looked at Maura with a shy smile, “but she insisted you would love this bouquet. And it reminded me of you, so…”

Maura beamed up at her joyfully. “They’re perfect.”

“So, what do they mean, anyway?” Jane asked curiously.

“Well,” Maura said with her usual fact-presenting expression, “lilacs are often used to represent love—purple representing the first emotions of love or new love.”

“And lilies?” Jane grinned; Maura’s smile was so contagious.

“Orange lilies, specifically, represent desire and passion.” Maura said, her finger’s curling into Jane’s dark locks.

“That sounds about right.” Jane said with a curt nod, as if she had known this all along.

“Come to my place for dinner.” Maura asked so forcefully it was almost more of a command. She almost surprised herself as much as she surprised Jane with her insistence. All this flirting back and forth was apparently wearing her patience thin. She wanted Jane desperately, and all this forcing herself not to let their lips touch again, it was making her anticipation worse.

“But what about Ma?” Jane said, unable to focus on much more than Maura’s red lips. “Won’t she be hanging around your place?”

“I convinced her that Frankie needed her motherly attention. She won’t even be out at the guest house tonight.” Maura said with a triumphant smile.

“Poor Frankie,” Jane laughed.

“So, will you let me make you dinner?” Maura said, wondering if she’d be able to make it that long. She wanted to do this right, to have a proper date, to not rush things, but it was tempting to just toss all caution to the wind.

“Okay.” Jane said breathlessly.

“Meet me at my place in an hour,” Maura said.

(to be continued)


	13. Right Where I Belong

Had it all really been leading to this? Jane thought to herself as she sat across the table, nervously eyeing Maura over the candlelight. She tried to eat her food, which was delicious despite her picking at it with her fork. The trouble was that she was having a horrible time focusing on anything other than how horribly awkward she felt.

First there had been the question of what to wear. Normally, she gave little thought to what she wore. Other than finding an outfit that matched and was comfortable, she rarely made much effort in the way of dress. But this was a date—a real date. She couldn't just show up in her usual blouse and slacks, and Maura had expressed her distaste for Jane's favorite pair of heeled boots.

What did Maura expect her to wear? Did she expect her to dress up? The doctor would surely be stunning, as usual, but how could Jane compete? Maura was always the one to help her get dressed for stuff like this anyway. _What would Maura like?_ She thought to herself as she stared into her closet. Suddenly, everything seemed so awful.

Then there had been the question of what to bring. Had a guy been coming over to her place for dinner, she would expect him to bring flowers and wine, or at least some sort of gift. _Does that mean I'm the guy?_ Jane thought tossing another outfit onto her bed. _Don't be ridiculous, Jane._ She cursed herself, _there is no guy! It's just me and Maura._

"Fuck!" Jane said tossing another outfit onto the bed. This was Maura. She was going on a date with Maura. _Calm the fuck down!_ Jane thought. _Stop thinking about this so much._

Finally, she had settled on the only little black dress she owned. It was the only item in Jane's wardrobe that Maura had not turned her nose up to. Not that Maura showed disapproval of all her clothes, but she was fairly outspoken about Jane's lack of taste, or rather lack of interest in fine clothing.

This particular item Jane had bought fairly recently—that is within the past several weeks. She thought back to when she had purchased it. It had been back during one of Maura's matchmaking crazes where she insisted on bringing Jane out to meet guys. Jane had been shopping with her mother when the dress had caught her eye. Of course, to avoid incessant questions from either of them, she had purchased the dress the next day on her own.

Jane slipped into the dress and looked at herself in the mirror. _Why did I buy this anyway?_ She wondered. Her hand smoothed down the curve of her hip. She remembered thinking about how Maura would have loved it. _I never did get to see her reaction to it,_ she thought to herself with a smile.

And suddenly, the reason she bought the dress was clear. As clear as the smile on Maura’s face as she stared at her from across the table. It had taken Jane months to see it, but they'd been building to this. Maura was the reason Jane had bought that dress. Maura was the reason she found few—if any—men appealing. Maura was the reason she felt an overwhelming pang of jealously any time anyone gave the doctor more than just friendly attention.

"Jane?" Maura said, noticing the brunette's half-eaten plate of food. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Hm?" Jane said, glancing up at her uneasily.

"Is the salmon under-cooked?" Maura said with a frown, wondering if that was why Jane had been poking it absentmindedly with her fork.

The honey blond had not really been worried that Jane didn't like the dish. Maura was confident in her cooking ability. She did, however, worry that the long silence was indicative of Jane's reluctance to move the date forward. Maura desperately wished that she could know what the brunette was thinking. Did she want to slow down? Was all this too much for her to take?

All Maura knew was that she was frightfully nervous herself. Why, she honestly couldn't fathom. Maura was always very confident when it came to dating. She was comfortable with her sexuality and she was comfortable with Jane. So, why was she so anxious?

_This is Jane._ Maura had thought to herself as she prepared dinner. _This is your best friend Jane._

Maura had been thankful that Jane had been late to arrive, because, despite her usual confidence when it came to picking out the perfect outfit, she found herself changing her mind and her clothes several times. She couldn't believe that someone who normally made her feel so at ease was suddenly the source of so much anxiety. She began to wonder if the whole dinner thing was a good idea. It was a weeknight, after all, and if Jane spent the night—was she going to spend the night?

Maura had tossed those thoughts aside as she went to answer the door. The two stared at each other briefly before either said anything. Jane managed a compliment about Maura's dress—a silky red dress that hugged her every curve—as she awkwardly handed her a bottle of wine. Maura admired Jane with a smile, thanking her for the wine. _Goodness she looks sexy in that little black dress._

"No, the meal is delicious." Jane assured Maura with a nod, though she continued to stir her food absentmindedly.

"Jane if you're not ready for this..." Maura suddenly blurted out, placing her hand reassuringly on Jane's.

"Are you not ready for…?" but Jane was unable to finish the sentence. Her mouth was dry, and her heart was racing. She was aware of little more than Maura's thumb running over her fingers.

"Yes, Jane, I'm nervous, too." Maura said, squeezing Jane's hand. Finally, Jane looked up into her eyes. Maura smiled bravely, "That's natural. But, Jane, if you need more time, there's no need for us to rush things."

"I'm sorry," Jane said, suddenly standing up. Maura stood up too, looking at Jane with panic filling her eyes.

This was all too much for Jane. Everything in her brain was screaming _Run!_ Why couldn't this be easy? Why couldn't this just happen? What happened to the comfort she felt with Maura no more than two hours ago?

"Don't go!" Maura said desperately, catching Jane's hand as she turned to leave.

Maura caught her, caught Jane from falling into her own trap. She grasped Jane tightly on the precipice of her fears. Maura steadied her, kept her from falling, the way Maura always had, the way only Maura could. For Jane may have been Maura's protection from the world, but Maura was Jane's protection from herself.

Jane's eyes were teary as she spun around. She nearly fell into Maura's kiss, a deep, hungry, and bruising kiss. Unbridled from an audience, from the need for professionalism, they melted into each other. Jane’s hands shook as her fingers spread into golden hair. She sighed as Maura’s tongue slipped over her parted lips. The brunette felt her whole body aching for more.

"Fuck," Jane gasped as their lips parted.

"Don't go," Maura said her pleas growing forceful as she moved kisses down Jane's neck. "Don't go."

"Maura,” Jane groaned as Maura's hands grazed over her breasts. She arched into the touch; she delighted in how right it felt with Maura's hands on her body. How could she ever have questioned this?

"Don't go." Maura demanded, squeezing purposefully at Jane's breasts.

"I’m sorry,” Jane whispered. "I’ll stay. I promise."

Their lips met again in another bruising kiss. Maura's hands delved into Jane's dark locks as tears spilled from her hazel eyes. She wanted—no she needed to hear it again.

"Jane," she said, breaking the kiss and looking into her russet colored eyes, "tell me again."

Jane stared at her. She could feel Maura needed to hear something, something she wasn't saying, something she had restrained herself from saying for so long. Maura didn't know how to ask for it, but Jane had heard her plea anyway.

"I’ll stay with you," Jane said, searching her hazel eyes, “Maura. Because I love you. I’m … I’m in love with you.”

The honey blond kissed her again, pulling her impossibly close. Her movements grew more fervent, needy. Jane was barely able to keep up. Jane had finally said exactly what she had waited years to hear. Maura’s suppressed desires were set free as she moved her lips down Jane’s jaw and neck and collarbone. She bit and licked on her way down, making her way to the valley between Jane's breasts. Jane tossed her head back with a soft moan.

Suddenly, Jane's sexy black dress was in the way. She would have to appreciate it later—Maura needed Jane naked right now. For that matter, she needed her own constricting dress off as well. She needed Jane's strong hands on her body, her tanned skin against hers. Maura stepped back, causing Jane to look at her in surprise.

For a moment, Maura feared that Jane would remain frozen there. The honey blond wanted to be patient, but Jane was testing not only her physical but also her emotional patience. She yearned for physical reassurance that Jane’s words were sincere. Her heart lightened as Jane smiled, reaching for her hand.

As Maura led her by the hand up the stairs, she peered back at Jane teasingly. The brunette longed to kiss Maura again, to taste her again, but she simply watched Maura in wonder as she led her to the master bedroom. Then, quite suddenly Maura halted in front of the bed and looked at Jane from over her shoulder.

Maura pointed to the zipper on the back of her dress. Jane smiled and obliged, slowly exposing the smooth skin of Maura's back, spreading kisses down as she moved. The silky material fell silently to the floor and the honey blond turned to face Jane, who looked down at Maura's black lacey undergarments and exposed flesh admiringly.

The brunette had seen her friend's underwear-clad figure before, but never like this. Never with her skin giving off heat and her muscles twitching expectantly. Never with Jane's hands wandering over her body leaving goose bumps in their wake.

Then, suddenly, Maura grasped Jane and turned her around. She pushed aside Jane's dark hair and her mouth touched the back of her neck. As she unzipped Jane's dress her kisses, and occasional gentle bites, moved down her back. The little black dress eventually fell to the floor, and Maura's hands moved up the curve of Jane's spine to unhook her bra.

Jane turned around as the garment fell to the floor. Maura's eyes fell to Jane's exposed breasts, her nipples already growing hard. The honey blond bit her lip. Jane suddenly felt self conscious, and Maura could tell by the way she shifted awkwardly. Maura kissed Jane reassuringly, turning the two of them around as she did so and pressing Jane backward onto the bed.

Maura climbed on top of Jane, her hands moving up Jane's arms to her wrists. She pinned Jane's arms above her head and kissed her again. The brunette looked up at her with a slight frown and an amused grin. She had never really thought of herself as a bottom, but if she hadn't guessed before, Jane knew now, as the honey blond looked down at her possessively, Maura was definitely a top.

The honey blonde’s kisses moved down Jane's jaw and to her ear. "You're so fucking beautiful," Maura whispered, her breath on her neck. Jane might have been surprised by Maura's sudden use of language if she not been very much distracted by the sudden pressure on her center coming from the forceful movement of Maura's thigh between her legs.

The brunette attempted to buck her hips up for more, but Maura had moved. She had gotten the information she was seeking, it was evident on her thigh, and soaking through Jane's panties. Jane's eyes opened wide; she looked up at Maura incredulously. Jane was so ready for her, she could feel it aching and dripping in her center, but Maura merely looked down at her appreciatively.

Frustrated, Jane struggled free from Maura's grasp and reached around to unhook her bra. If Maura was going to tease her, Jane was at least going to get a good look at Maura's perfect breasts. When they slipped from her silky lingerie, Jane was unable to resist the urge to cup her hands around them.

Maura gasped as Jane's long fingers squeezed greedily around her full breasts. Her head fell back, and she moaned as Jane's middle and pointer fingers pinched at her budded nipples. She struggled to maintain her posture over Jane, but after several more pinches her legs buckled under her and her aching core pressed hard onto Jane's stomach.

The two women gasped, Jane at the sensation of Maura's dripping center on her abs and Maura at the sudden pressure on her throbbing clit. Maura arched into Jane's hands, aching for those long, nimble fingers to be inside her.

Suddenly, Jane's hands moved to Maura's waist, pulling Maura down on top of her. She brought her mouth to Maura's right breast and sucked greedily on her hardened nipple. Maura's hands fell to the bed where she struggled to steady herself.

_Fuck, Jane is good at this,_ Maura thought as the brunette's tongue circled her nipple. Then she moved to the other breast, her ministrations growing ever more fervent, more daring. _I wander where else that tongue would be useful,_ Maura dared to imagine.

It was that thought that caused Maura's impatience to grow to an unbearable level. So, quite suddenly she pressed her lips against Jane's. She needed to taste her, every bit of her. With one last hard suck on Jane's bottom lip she moved her lips south down her neck, to her chest. She moved as slowly as she could possibly manage, sucking greedily on one breast and then the other, nibbling lightly on each nipple and licking it with one long, greedy stroke of her tongue.

Jane arched into Maura's mouth with every kiss, every bite, every lick as she moved down Jane's stomach to her panty-line. Maura looked up towards Jane's face briefly. She wanted to make sure she was okay with this. But Jane's head was trust back into the pillows, her hands grasping at the sheets below her.

Maura placed a kiss on the moistened spot on Jane's panties. She smiled at the way Jane bucked her hips up into her mouth. Jane's delicious scent wafted into Maura's nose, causing her mouth to water.

"Please," Jane whimpered softly.

Maura rewarded her with another kiss, this time sucking gently on the moisture there. Jane tasted delicious and Maura could barely restrain herself from simply moving the cloth aside and pressing her mouth full on to Jane's center. Instead, she slowly removed Jane's underwear, placing kisses up her thighs as she moved back up to her goal, tossing Jane's underwear to the floor.

Jane's legs widened as Maura's kisses moved up her other thigh. She let out a deep, guttural moan as Maura's lips finally surrounded the bud of nerves buried in the dark, neat curls between her legs. The honey blond sucked greedily on Jane's clit, her moans growing louder and her hips bucking harder. Maura placed a hand on Jane's stomach, her abs pulsing under her fingers. She flicked her tongue over the bud gently, with the occasional broad stroke over her folds.

"Maura!" Jane moaned pleadingly.

The sensations that the honey blond was sending through Jane's body she hardly thought possible. Still, she ached for Maura to be inside of her, to fill her. Just when she thought she was going to have to plead again she felt Maura slip one finger deep inside. She moved in and out in time with her tongue on Jane's clit, curling her finger up as she pulled out, and pressing deeper as she moved in.

Just when Jane was just about to give into the urge to beg for more, Maura added another finger. Jane squeezed around her and moaned loudly at the sensations growing deep within her core and swelling outward. Maura was about to add a third finger, loving the feel of Jane's walls constricting around her hand, when suddenly, Jane grasped at her head desperately. Maura let herself be pulled to Jane's face and onto Jane's lips. She adjusted her fingers accordingly.

At first, Jane was startled by the strange taste of herself on Maura's mouth, but then Maura's thrusts resumed their pace and curl into Jane's core, and her palm pressed against her clit. Jane wrapped her shaking arms around Maura's neck as she moved kisses down Jane's jawline.

Jane's mouth opened, as if to scream, but no sound came out. Sweet ecstasy washed over her whole body. She quaked underneath Maura, her nails digging painfully deep into the smaller woman's shoulders. The honey blond continued her movements for some time, trying to extend the brunette's pleasure.

"Maur!" Jane cried, sound finally erupting from her mouth as she experienced one final flush of pleasure. Jane collapsed beneath her lover.

"Maura…" Jane said, gasping for breath as she lay beside her. She searched her brain for some way to describe how mind-blowingly awesome that was, but she could think of no intelligent way of saying so.

Suddenly, as Jane's mind began to clear, that nervousness began to return. What if she couldn't do any of that right? What if she couldn't pleasure Maura, no less give her the best orgasm of her life? Maura clearly had more experience than she did. How was Jane supposed to compete with that?

Then Maura kissed her knowingly, and, seeing the worry in Jane's eyes, guided Jane's hand down into her underwear and deep into her soaking folds. Jane's fingers slipped easily over Maura's aching clit, causing her to shiver and arch into Jane's hand. Encouraged by Maura's heaving chest and parting legs, Jane maneuvered herself above her.

Eagerly Jane slipped the Maura's panties off her legs, revealing a neat, dark blond patch of hair. Jane could not help but smile as her eyes swept up every perfect aspect of Maura's figure, her smooth abs, the smooth, pale skin of her chest, the luscious curves of her breasts, the pulsing veins moving up her neck, the sharp features of her face, those hypnotizing hazel eyes. She propped herself up with the other arm so she could watch the pleasure she caused play out on Maura's face.

Maura's hands grasped at the bed sheets as Jane rubbed gentle circles around her clit. As Jane increased the pressure, Maura's knuckles grew pale and her breathing hitched. She bucked into Jane's fingers as she found the right stroke. Jane's confidence grew as the honey blond came closer and closer to her climax, her moans growing ever louder.

Jane watched the movements of Maura’s face. Her eyes were screwed shut, and she struggled to breathe through her nose. Her ragged breaths quickened as Jane pressed deeper and faster. Then, Maura’s jaw slackened, and she pressed her head back into the pillow.

"Jane," Maura moaned loudly.

The brunette thought at first that Maura meant for her to stop, but as soon as Jane went to move, Maura's grabbed her hand, holding her in place. Almost immediately, though, Maura loosened her grip, peering up at Jane. Jane frowned at her, trying to read her expression.

"It’s okay…" Maura tried to reassure her, but she had been so close. She didn't want to make Jane feel like she had to do anything she wasn't comfortable with, but she really, _really_ didn't want her to stop either.

Jane shook her head. “I don’t want to stop,” she whispered, gazing at her. “As long as you’re okay.”

“Yes,” Maura nodded, pulling her into a quick kiss. She added pleadingly, “please don’t stop.”

Maura’s eyes closed the moment Jane continued. She moaned loudly as Jane quickly brought her back to the precipice of pleasure.

“I love you,” Jane whispered as Maura’s body stiffened.

"Jane!" Maura moaned as she came. Her whole body shivered, pulsing with ecstasy. Jane buried Maura’s mouth in a kiss. She continued the movements of her hand, curling her fingers to bring Maura extra pleasure.

"Fuck!" Maura moaned as her head tossed back suddenly and her back arched and her hips bucked into Jane's hand.

The honey blond was overcome with another tidal wave of pleasure as she squeezed around Jane's strong fingers. Maura grasped tightly at Jane's neck, making it difficult for Jane to continue. But continue she did, thrusting in and out of Maura until every last twitch had ceased and Maura lay still, panting for breath.

After a few minutes Maura opened her eyes and looked up at Jane, who was still peering down at her. Jane had a slightly worried expression evident in her furrowed eyebrows and searching coffee brown eyes. The honey blond smiled up at her, wrapping her arms around her gently and touching her lips to Jane's. It was a sweet, tender kiss, filled with wordless praise.

Jane lay down next to Maura, their legs intertwined and their arms still wrapped around each other. Maura's hazel eyes gazed into Jane's russet colored eyes. A shy smile spread over the brunette's face at last, she had done well after all—more than well.

"I love you, Jane Rizzoli." Maura whispered with her eyes firmly locked in Jane's gaze.

"I love you, too." Jane murmured before nuzzling her face into the crook of Maura's neck. "So much it scares me."

The two were silent, breathing softly, holding each other closely. Nothing need be said. Maura grasped Jane tightly, showing her that she understood. Jane pulled the covers over them, and nuzzled into Maura once again, yawning sleepily.

Maura glanced at the clock; it was nearly 1 am. Tomorrow would be a long day with only a few hours of sleep, but that hardly bothered her. If the cost was a little less sleep, Maura would gladly spend every night like this.

Jane could feel sleep overtaking her. For a moment, she feared falling asleep. What if she awoke and all this had been a dream? But then Maura kissed her hair and sighed contentedly.

_This is right where I belong,_ they both thought as they dozed off.

The End


End file.
